E458 
.8 



Copy 2 














*<W ASSR- ^* v -TSRaT: ^^ »M»I\ w 



?0 A^* 



.* ^\ 































r oV" 



°^. 



1 ^ 













L «5 °i« 



v •" 













jfottrtan 




iisr 



AMERICAN BASTILES. 



"It" (free speech) " is a homebred right — a fireside privilege. It has 
ever hern enjoyed in every house, cottage and cabin in the nation. It is not 
to be drowned in controversy. It is as undoubted as the right of breathing 
the air and walking on the earth. It is a right to be maintained in peace and 
in war. It is a right which cannot be invaded without destroying constitu- 
tional liberty. Hence this right should be guarded and protected by the free- 
men of this Country with a jealous care, unless they are prepared for chains 
and anarchy." 

[ Daniel Webster. 



•• Say at once that a free Constitution is no longer suitable to tis ; say at 

once, in a manly manner, that, upon an ample review of the slate of the 

world, a free Constitution is not fit for you ; conduct yourselves at once as 

the Senators of Denmark ; lay down your freedom , and acknowledge and 

accept of despotism. Bui do not mock the understandings and feelings of 

Id that you are free, — by telling me that if, for the 

sense of (he public administration of this country, 

kis war has occasioned, I slate a grievance, or make 

timents in a manner that may be thought seditious, 

? hitherto unknown to the law." 

[Charles James Fox/" 5 " ? 




THIRD EDITION. 



B A L T I M K E : 

HED BY KELLY, HEDIAN & P1ET. 
No. ] 7 4 Baltimore Strbk t . 
18 3. 




MARGARET W. CUSTfTlW 
JAN. 26, 1938 , 



jfflurtmt 




i^r 



AMERICAN BASTILES 



> #♦» » » 



"i?" {free speech) " is a homebred right — a fireside privilege. It has 
ever been enjoyed in every house, cottage and cabin in the nation. It is not 
to be drowned in controversy. It is as undoubted as the right of breathing 
the air and ivalking on the earth. It is a right to be maintained in peace and 
in war. It is a right which cannot be invaded without destroying constitu- 
tional liberty. Hence this right should be guarded and protected by the free- 
men of this Country with a jealous care, unless they are prepared for chains 
and anarchy." 

[ Daniel Webster. 



" Say at once that a free Constitution is no longer suitable to us ; say at 
once, in a manly manner, that, upon an ample review of the state of the 
world, a free Constitution is not fit for you ; conduct yourselves at once as 
the Senators of Denmark ; lay down your freedom, and acknowledge and 
accept of despotism. But do not mock the understandings and feelings of 
mankind by telling the world that you are free, — by telling me that if , for the 
purpose of expressing my sense of the public administration of this country, 
of the calamities ivhich this war has occasioned, I state a grievance, or make 
any declaration of my sentiments in a manner that may be thought seditious, 
I am to be subjected to penalties hitherto unknown to the law." 

[Charles James Fox. 



BALTIMORE: 
PUBLISHED BY KELLY, HEDIAN & PIET, 

No. 174 Baltimore Street, 
1863. 



£4. 
.8 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
F. K. Howard, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of 
the State of Maryland. 



PRE E-AC E 



The unlawful and oppressive acts of Mr. Lincoln, his 
advisers, and subordinates, during the war between this 
Government and that of the Confederate States, will here- 
after constitute no insignificant portion of the history of 
these times. As one of the victims of the despotism, which 
he succeeded in maintaining, in the Northern and Border 
States, for so long a period, I desire to add ray testimony 
to that which has been heretofore furnished, in relation 
to the outrages perpetrated under his Administration ; and 
I give publicity to this statement now, while the facts are 
fresh in the recollection of the public, lest any one should 
at some remoter period venture to doubt its accuracy. I 
do not propose to discuss the absurdity of the theories 
on which Mr. Lincoln claimed to exercise arbitrary power, 
nor the imbecility of his course. It is proper, however, 
in giving an account of the treatment to which, in common 
with hundreds of other men, I was subjected, to refer 
briefly to the position of affairs in Maryland, and the 
object of Mr. Lincoln in inflicting on myself and my 
fellow sufferers the indignities and wrongs which we so 
long endured. Up to the time when the dissolution of 
the Union became, to most intelligent men, a patent fact, 
the people of Maryland had unanimously desired and 
striven for its perpetuation. Though they feared that the 
aggressive principles and growing power of the Republican 
party would, before many years, bring about a separation 
of the two sections of the country, and though they believed 
that the conduct of Mr. Lincoln and his party justified 
the action of the South, they still hoped and labored for the 



maintenance of the Union. They earnestly desired that 
some compromise should be proposed by Congress, which 
would restore peace between the two sections, and they 
believed that such a settlement could readily be effected. 
When Congress refused to make any effort in that direc- 
tion, they looked to what was called the "Peace Confer- 
ence" to recommend some plan by which all dissensions 
might be healed. When all these hopes were disappoint- 
ed by the action of Northern men, and especially when 
Mr. Lincoln, on his accession to office, appointed some of 
the most extreme partisans to high office at home, and se- 
lected others to represent the country abroad, and gave am- 
ple evidence of his incapacity to understand the questions 
at issue, and of his determination neither to conciliate the 
Southern people, nor to deal with what he called the " rebel- 
lion" according to the mode provided by the Constitution and 
laws, then a large proportion of the people of Maryland ex- 
pressed their sympathy for the South, and their conviction of 
the justice of its cause. They then asserted that the conquest 
of the South was an impossibility, that the Union was in point 
of fact dissolved, and they insisted that in such case the people 
of the State had the right to decide their own destiny for 
themselves. These views I also entertained and expressed, 
as one of the editors of a Baltimore journal "The Daily 
Exchange." But neither I, nor those who were afterwards 
my fellow prisoners, ever violated in any way, the Consti- 
tution or the laws. We defended the rights of our State, 
and criticized the policy of the Administration at Washing- 
ton. We advanced our views with perfect freedom, as we 
had the right to do, and we did no more. But Mr. Lincoln 
had determined to suppress everything like free speech, not 
only in Maryland, but throughout the North. He had 
made up his mind that he would carry out his own projects 
irrespectively of the laws, or his constitutional obligations. 
Having therefore introduced Northern troops into the city 
of Baltimore and various parts of the State, and having 
fortified numerous points so far as to render resistance un- 
availing, he proceeded to execute his schemes. The Commis- 
sioners and Marshal of Police were arrested in Baltimore, and 



the Police force was disbanded. Many of the most promi- 
nent members of the Legislature, on the eve of the meeting 
of that body, the Mayor of Baltimore, and one the members 
of Congress for that city, were arrested at midnight, and 
dragged off to prison. Editors and other private citizens 
were also among the proscribed. Newspapers were sup- 
pressedj and the functions of the State and Municipal au- 
thorities usurped or suspended by agents of the Adminis- 
tration. Neither against me nor the vast majority of my 
lellow prisoners did the officers of the Government ever 
venture to prefer any specific charge. We were arrested 
simply for daring to defend our unquestionable rights and 
to exercise the liberty of free speech. Under these circum- 
stances, it might have been supposed that we would be 
treated with some regard to our health and comfort. As 
we were detained, as was frequently admitted by Govern- 
ment officials, only as a precautionary measure, it might 
have been expected that those who chose to perpetrate so 
gross a wrong, would at least recognize the right of inno- 
cent and honorable men under such circumstances to be 
considerately or decently dealt with. I do not propose, as I 
have said, to discuss the enormity of the outrage inflicted 
on us, or to measure the infamy which will attach to those 
who were the authors or agents of that wrong. I only 
wish to show now how men, who were guiltless of any 
offence whatever, and who had been thrown into prison 
because of their political opinions, were treated in this age, 
and in this country. I submit the facts to the public, with 
the assertion that the fairness and accuracy of my statement 
cannot be successfully challenged. As I have not intended, 
in the ensuing pages, to discuss the cases of " political 
prisoners" generally, but merely to detail, in the form of 
a personal narrative, my own experiences, I have been com- 
pelled to speak mainly of myself. Under these circum- 
stances, this continual reference to my own views and situa- 
tion has been unavoidable. 

F. K. HOWARD. 

Baltimore, December, 1862. 



; 0»t mt 



On the morning of the 13th of September, 1861, at my 
residence in the city of Baltimore, I was awakened about 
12^ or 1 o'clock, by the ringing of the bell. On going 
to the window, I saw a man standing on the steps below, 
who told me he had a message for me from Mr. S. T. 
Wallis. I desired to know the purport of it, when he 
informed me that he could only deliver it to me privately. 
As it had been rumored that the Government intended 
to arrest the members of the Legislature, and as Mr. 
Wallis was one of the most prominent of the Delegates 
from the City of Baltimore, I thought it probable that the 
threatened outrage had been consummated, and I hurried 
down to the door. When I opened it, two men entered, 
leaving the door ajar. One of them informed me that he 
had an order for my arrest. In answer to my demand that 
he should produce the warrant or order under which he was 
acting, he declined to do so, but said he had instructions 
from Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State. 

I replied that I could recognize no such authority, when 
he stated that he intended to execute his orders, and that 
resistance would be idle, as he had a force with him suffi- 
cient to render it unavailing. As he spoke, several men 
entered the house, more than one of whom were armed with 
revolvers, which I saw in their belts. There was no one in 
the house when it was thus invaded, except my wife, child- 
ren and servants, and under such circumstances, I of course, 
abandoned all idea of resistance. I went into my library 
and sent for my wife, who soon joined me there, when I was 
2 



8 

informed that neither of us would be permitted to leave the 
room until the house had been searched. How many men 
were present, I am unable to say, but two or three were sta- 
tioned in my library, and one at the front door, and I saw 
several others passing, from time to time, along the passage. 
The leader of the gang then began to search the apartment. 
Every drawer and box was thoroughly ransacked, as also 
were my portfolio and writing desk, and every other place 
that could possibly be supposed to hold any papers. All my 
private memoranda, bills, note-books, and letters were col- 
lected together to be carried off. Every room in the house 
subsequently underwent a similar search. After the first 
two rooms had been thus searched, I was told that I could 
not remain longer, but must prepare to go to Fort McHenry. 
I went up stairs to finish dressing, accompanied by the lea- 
der of the party, and I saw that men were stationed in all 
parts of the house, one even standing sentinel at the door of 
my children's nursery. Having dressed and packed up a 
change of clothes and a few other articles, I went down into 
the library, and was notified that I must at once depart. I 
demanded permission to send for my wife's brother or father, 
who were in the immediate neighborhood, but this was re- 
fused. My wife then desired to go to her children's room, 
and this request was also refused. I was forced to submit, 
and ordering my servants to remain in the room with my 
wife, and giving decided expression to my feelings concern- 
ing the outrage perpetrated upon me, and the miserable 
tyrants who had authorized it, I got into the carriage which 
was waiting to convey me to Fort McHenry. Two men, 
wearing the badges of the police force which the Govern- 
ment had organized, escorted me to the Fort. It was with 
a bitter pang that I left my house in possession of the mis- 
creants who had invaded it. I afterwards learned that the 
search was continued for some time, and it was not until 
after 3 o'clock in the morning that they left the premises. 

I reached Fort McHenry about 2 o'clock in the morning. 
There I found several of my friends, and others were brought 
in a few minutes afterwards. One or two were brought in 
later in the day, making fifteen in all. Among them were 



9 

most of the Members of the Legislature from Baltimore, 
Mr. Brown, the Mayor of the City, and one of our Repre- 
sentatives in Congress, Mr. May. They were all gentlemen 
of high social position, and of unimpeachable character, 
and each of them had been arrested, as has been said, solely 
on account of his political opinions, no definite charge hav- 
ing been then, or afterwards, preferred against them. Two 
small rooms were assigned us during our stay. In the 
smaller one of these I was placed, with three companions. 
The furniture consisted of three or four chairs and an old 
ricketty bedstead, upon which was the filthiest apology for a 
bed I ever saw. There was also a tolerably clean looking 
mattress lying in one corner. Upon this mattress, and upon 
the chairs and bedstead, we vainly tried to get a few hours 
sleep. The rooms were in the second story of the building, 
and opened upon a narrow balcony, which we were allowed 
to use, sentinels, however, being stationed on it. When I 
looked out in the morning, I could not help being struck by 
an odd, and not pleasant coincidence. On that day, forty- 
seven years before, my grand-father, Mr. F. S. Key, then 
a prisoner on a British ship, had witnessed the bombard- 
ment of Fort McHenry. When, on the following morning, 
the hostile fleet drew off, defeated, he wrote the song so long 
popular throughout the country, the "Star Spangled Ban- 
ner." As I stood upon the very scene of that conflict, I 
could not but contrast my position with his, forty-seven years 
before. The flag which he had then so proudly hailed, I saw 
waving, at the same place, over the victims of as vulgar and 
brutal a despotism as modern times have witnessed. 

At an early hour in the morning, and through the day, 
a number of our friends endeavored to procure access to us, 
but nearly all failed to do so. Three or four gentlemen and 
two or three ladies managed to obtain admission to the Fort, 
and Col. Morris, the commanding officer, permitted them 
to interchange a few words with us, in his presence, they 
being down on the parade-ground and we up in the balcony. 
Mr. Brown was not even allowed to speak to his wife, 
who had been suffered to enter the Fort, and could only 
take leave of her by bowing to her across the parade ground. 



10 

About mid-day, we sent for our clothes, several of the party 
having left home without bringing anything whatever with 
them. At 4 o'clock, P. M., we were notified that we were 
to be sent at 5 o'clock to Fortress Monrce. The trunks of 
most of us fortunately arrived half an hour before we left, 
and were thoroughly searched. Had they been delayed a 
little longer we should undoubtedly have been sent off with 
only such little clothing as some of us happened to have 
brought with us when first arrested. As it was, one or two 
of the party had absolutely nothing save what they wore. 
About 6 o'clock we left Fort McHenry on the steamer 
Adelaide. The after-cabin, which was very comfortable, and 
the after-deck, on which it opened, were assigned to our 
use. Sentinels were stationed in the cabin and on the after- 
deck. The officers and crew of the boat treated us with all 
the kindness and courtesy it was in their power to show. 
When we were taken below to supper, we saw at another 
table a number of naval officers, some of whom several of 
my companions had known well. These officers did not 
venture to recognize a single individual of our party, 
although we were within ten feet of them, and within full 
view. Their conduct was in admirable keeping with that 
of the Government they served. 



11 






I 



We reached Fortress Monroe about 6 o'clock, on the 
morning of September 14th. Major-General John E. Wool 
was in command of the Department within which the Fort 
was situated, and had his headquarters there at the time. — 
As no arrangements had been made for our reception, we 
did not land until late in the day. The boat lay at the 
wharf for several hours, and then ran up above the Fortress 
about a quarter of a mile, and anchored in the stream. In 
the course of the day General Wool sent for Messrs. Brown 
and May. He stated to them that our arrival had taken 
him by surprise, and that he had no quarters prepared for 
us, but said that some of the casemates were being made 
ready for us. He evidently felt that the accommodations 
he was about to give us were not such as we had a right to 
expect, and intimated that a building known as Carroll 
Hall, or a portion of it, would, in all probability, be assign- 
ed to us in a few days. This was the last that any of the 
party saw of General Wool, and we heard no more of Car- 
roll Hall. About 5 o'clock we landed, and were marched 
to our quarters. These consisted of two casemates, from 
which some negroes were still engaged in removing dirt 
and rubbish, when we got there. Each of these casemates 
was divided by a substantial partition, thus making four 
rooms. The two front rooms were well finished, and were 
about fifteen by twenty-three feet each, and each had a door 
and two windows which opened on the grounds within the 
Fortress. The windows had Venetian shutters to them, and 
there were Venetian doors also, outside of the ordinary 



12 

solid doors. The inner, or back rooms, if rooms they can be 
called, were considerably smaller than the others, and were 
simply vaulted chambers of rough stone, whitewashed. — 
They were each lighted by a single, deep embrasure, which, 
at the narrowest part, was about forty-four by twenty-two 
inches. Just beneath these embrasures was the moat, which 
at that point was more than fifty feet in width. On the 
opposite side of the moat a sentinel was constantly stationed. 
The two back rooms and one of the front ones we used as 
sleeping apartments, each being occupied by five persons. — 
In the other front room we took our meals. Bedsteads and 
bedding were furnished us, which, I believe, were obtained 
from the Hygeia Hotel, just outside the walls. About 10 
o'clock one of the Sergeants of the Provost Marshal visited 
us, and carefully searched our baggage. Our meals were 
sent from the Hotel also, and worse, as we at that time 
thought, could not well have been offered us. The regula- 
tions to which we were subjected, were not only unnecessa- 
rily rigorous, but seemed to have been framed with the 
deliberate purpose of adding petty insults to our other 
annoyances. We were required to leave the room when the 
servants who brought our meals were engaged in setting the 
table, although a Sergeant of the Guard was always present 
at such times, to prevent our holding any conversation with 
them. We were notified, by an order from General Wool 
also, that the knives and forks were to be counted after each 
meal. It is difficult to conceive for what rational purpose 
such a rule was made. Fifteen of us would scarcely have 
thought of assailing the thousands of troops who composed 
the garrison, with such weapons as might have been snatch- 
ed from the table ; and, closely guarded as we were, it was 
hardly possible that we could have effected our escape, had 
we thought of doing so, by means of such implements as 
knives and forks. The order was one, therefore, which could 
only have been intended to humiliate us, and it was certainly 
such as no one having the instincts of a gentleman, or the 
better feelings of a man, would have suggested or enforced. 
It was, however, in accordance with the theory upon which 
General Wool thought proper to deal with us throughout. 



13 

In front of our casemates a large guard was stationed day 
and night, two or three tents being pitched about ten feet 
off for their use ; and a sentinel was constantly pacing up 
and down within four feet of our doors. For a week we 
never left our two casemates for a single instant, for any 
purpose whatever. We continually remonstrated against 
the manner in which we were treated, and represented the 
fact that we were likely, under such circumstances, to suffer 
seriously in health. Our complaints were generally follow- 
ed by some new restriction. After we had been there two 
or three days, the Sergeant of the Guard closed the window- 
shutters and the Venetian doors of our rooms, and stated 
that he had express orders to do so. At our request, Mr. 
Wallis addressed the following note to Capt. Davis, the 
Provost Marshal : 

"Capt. DAVIS, U. S. A., 

Provost Marshal : 

"Sir: The Sergeant who has charge of my fellow prisoners and 
myself, has just closed the blinds of our front windows and doors, 
excluding us from the sight of passing objects, shutting out, to a 
great extent, the light by which we read, and hindering the circula- 
tion of the air through our apartments. These last are, at best, 
damp and unwholesome, and to-day particularly, in the existing state 
of the atmosphere, are extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable — so 
much so, that we have been compelled to build a fire for our mere 
protection from illness. Some of our number are old men ; others in 
delicate health ; and the restraint which excludes us from air and 
exercise is painful enough without this new annoyance, which the 
Sergeant informs us he has no right to forego. You are aware of 
the disgusting necessities to which we are subjected, in a particular 
of which we spoke to you personally, and you will, of course, know 
how much this new obstruction must add to our discomfort. I am 
requested by my companions simply to call your attention to the 
matter, and am, Very respectfully, 

"S. T. WALLIS. 
"Fortress Monroe, 17th Sept., 1861." 

No reply was made to this by Capt. Davis. On the fol- 
lowing day iron bars were placed across the shutters and 



14 

padlocked, thus fastening them permanently, and the Vene- 
tian doors were padlocked also. The keys were kept by the 
Sergeant, who was the deputy, or assistant, of the Provost 
Marshal, and, in his absence, no one had access to our rooms. 
In consequence of this, we were often put to serious incon- 
venience, and on several occasions, our meals, which were 
trundled up from the hotel on a wheelbarrow, remained for 
an hour or two outside of the door, awaiting the pleasure of 
the Sergeant. After the closing of the doors and shutters, 
our situation was of course, far more irksome than ever. — 
The Venetian doors were not quite so high as the solid 
doors, and by standing on anything that elevated us a few 
inches, we could manage to look out over them. Through 
these furtive and unsatisfactory glimpses only, could we ob- 
tain any sight of the outer world on that side of our prison. 
From the back rooms we had a limited view of the river, 
and of some of the shipping; and of this prospect it was 
impossible by the exercise of any ingenuity to deprive us. — 
A day or two before we left, we were allowed, at intervals 
during the day, the use of an adjoining casemate. Sanitary 
considerations, I presume, compelled our keepers to grant us 
a privilege, which it was sheer brutality to have so long de- 
nied us. A door communicated between our quarters and 
this new casemate, at which a sentinel was stationed, who 
permitted two persons to pass at one time. The more dis- 
gusting and painful details of our imprisonment, I must ab- 
stain from dwelling on. Our rooms were swept each morn- 
ing, and such other personal services as were absolutely ne- 
cessary, were hurriedly performed by two filthy negro boys, 
under the supervision of the Sergeant of the Guard. 

We were permitted to correspond with our families and 
friends, all our letters undergoing the scrutiny of one of 
General Wool's officers. But we were not allowed to 
make any public statements, nor even to correct the false- 
hoods or slanders which were circulated about us in the 
newspapers. On one occasion, a paragraph appeared in 
the Baltimore American, which by way of justifying our 
arrest, alleged that the Government had in its possession 



15 

ample evidence of the fact, that all who had heen arrested 
had in some way violated the laws. An assertion so utterly 
false we naturally desired to contradict, and Messrs. Brown, 
and Wallis, and myself, each wrote a brief card for publi- 
cation in other journals, denying the truth of the American's 
statement. These cards were not allowed to go to the 
newspapers to which we had addressed them. It apparently 
suited the purpose of the Government to have us libelled as 
well as punished, and we, of course, were without redress. 

For ten days we lived as I have described, in these dark- 
ened and dreary casemates. General Wool never came 
near our quarters, nor did he ever, either directly or 
indirectly, extend to us the slightest courtesy. He knew as 
well as any one, that we had been seized and were held by 
the Government in utter violation of all law, and that he 
had no decent pretext for permitting himself to be made our 
custodian. He knew therefore that we were entitled to be 
treated with some consideration. But he ignored, alike, 
his obligations as a citizen and as a gentleman, and caused 
us to be subjected to indignities that it would have been 
needless to inflict on the convicted inmates of his own 
guard-house. After our return, we heard in several 
quarters, that General Wool had repeatedly said he 
acted in the matter, strictly in accordance with his instruc- 
tions from Washington. As implicit deference to officers of 
the Government seems to be generally exacted in these 
days, the public may perhaps accept General Wool's 
explanation. For myself, I do not ; and I am sure there 
are many who will refuse to credit the statement that the 
War Department found time at such a crisis, to send 
special orders to Fortress Monroe, consigning us to the 
casemates in question, and directing the closing of the 
shutters, and the counting of the knives and forks. It 
seems more reasonable to suppose that General W t ool had 
some discretionary powers in regard to the treatment he 
was to accord to his prisoners. 

Soon after we reached Fortress Monroe, we began to 
consider the probabilities of our release, and the means by 
which we might obtain it. It was suggested that we 
3 



1C 

should come to some understanding as to the course we 
ought to pursue, and then act together throughout ; but this 
proposition was not for a moment entertained. Almost 
every one of us thought that each individual should act 
for himself, under his own sense of right. It was very 
soon evident however, that we were all of one opinion. 
We regarded the outrage done us personally, as one about 
which we could make no cumpromise. We thought the 
contemptuous violation of the laws of our State and the 
rights of its people, required at our hands all the resistance 
we could offer. We saw that Mr. Lincoln desired, by 
arbitrary measures, to silence everything like opposition to 
his schemes, and we felt under an obligation to thwart his 
iniquitous project, by showing that the people of Maryland 
could not successfully be so dealt with. It seemed clear to 
us, therefore, that it was the duty of each of us, both as 
an individual and a citizen, to continue to denounce and 
protest against Mr. Lincoln's proceedings, and to accept at 
his hands, nothing save the unconditional discharge, to 
which we were entitled. Of this determination, we notified 
our friends during the first few days of our imprisonment. 



IT 



«f 0H |fi |fsg*tt*. 



Otf the afterno6n of the 25th of September, we left For- 
tress Monroe, on the steamer George Peabody. There were 
no other passengers, bat the fifteen or twenty soldiers com- 
posing the guard. The boat was a Baltimore boat, and we 
received from her officers and crew the same courteous 
treatment that had been extended to us on board of the 
Adelaide. We reached Fort La Fayette, in New York 
harbor, a little before dark, on the afternoon of the 26th, 
and were immediately transferred from the boat to the Fort. 
Fort La Fayette is built upon a shoal, or small island, 
lying in the Narrows, just between the lower end of Staten 
Island and Long Island, and two or three hundred yards 
from the latter. It is something of an octagonal structure, 
though the four principal sides are so much longer than 
the others, that the building, on the inside, looks like a 
square. It is some forty-five or fifty feet high. In two of 
the longer and two of the shorter sides, which command 
the channel, are the batteries. There are two tiers of 
heavy guns on each of these sides, and above these, are 
lighter barbette guns under a temporary wooden roof. The 
other two principal sides are occupied, on the first and 
second stories, by small casemates ; all those on the second 
and some of those on the first story, being then assigned to 
the officers and soldiers. There are, altogether, ten of 
these casemates on each story. The whole space enclosed 
within the walls is about one hundred and twenty feet 
across. A pavement about twenty-five feet wide runs 
around this space, leaving a patch of ground some seventy 



18 

feet square, in the middle. A gloomier looking place than 
Fort La Fayette, both within and without, it would be hard 
to find in the whole State of New York, or, indeed, any- 
where. On the high bluff on Long Island stood Fort 
Hamilton, an extensive fortification, whose commanding 
officer, Col. Martin Burke, had also jurisdiction over Fort 
La Fayette. Lieut. Chas. 0. Wood, who had a few months 
before received a commission from Mr. Lincoln, was com- 
manding officer at Fort La Fayette. The two principal 
gun batteries, and four of the casemates in the lower story, 
were assigned to the prisoners. Each of these batteries 
was paved with brick, and was, I should judge, about sixty 
feet long and twenty-four feet wide. The one in which I was 
first quartered was lighted by five embrasures, the breadth 
and height of each being about two-and-a-half by two feet, 
and on the outside of these, iron gratings had been 
fastened. There were five large thirty-two pounders in 
this room, which were about eight feet apart, and with 
their carriages occupied a great deal of space. Five large 
doorways, seven or eight feet high, opened upon the 
enclosure within the walls, and were closed by solid fold- 
ing doors. We were only allowed to keep two of these 
doors, at one end of the battery, open, and at that end 
only could we usually see to read or write. The lower 
half of the battery was in a state of perpetual twilight. 
The adjoining battery was in all respects like the one I 
have attempted to describe. The four casemates which, 
were occupied by prisoners, were vaulted cells, measuring 
twenty-four by fourteen feet in length and breadth, and 
eight feet at the highest point. Each was lighted by 
two small loop holes in the outer wall, about ten inches 
wide, and by a similar one opening on the inside enclosure. 
These casemates were both dark and damp, but they had 
fire-places in them, while it was impossible to warm the 
gun batteries, until stoves were put up about a week or 
ten days before we left. 

The Fort could not be made to accommodate twenty 
people decently besides the garrison. Nevertheless, there 
were always largely over a hundred crowded into it, and 



19 

at one time there were as many as one hundred and 
thirty-five. 

When I and my companions reached the wharf, we were 
met by Lieut. Wood. I had seen him at Fort Hamilton 
some six weeks before, having gone there to try and see 
my father, who was then confined in Fort La Fayette. 
Wood recognized me, and requested me to introduce to 
him the gentlemen who were with me. This was the 
first and last occasion, as far as I know, on which he 
manifested a disposition to treat us with civility. His 
bearing at all times subsequently, was that of an ordinary 
jailor, except, perhaps, that he displayed even less good 
feeling than usually characterizes that class of people. We 
were marched into the gun battery I have mentioned, and 
as the prisoners already there, many of whom were our 
acquaintances or friends, crowded around us, Lieutenant 
Wood requested all to leave the room, except those com- 
prised in what he elegantly termed the "last lot." We 
were then required to give up all the money in our pos- 
session. We were each furnished that night with an 
iron bedstead, a bag of straw, and one shoddy blanket. 
When we had time to look around us, we found there 
were some twenty prisoners already quartered in the bat- 
tery, and the number of inmates was therefore increased 
to about thirty-five by the addition of our party. The 
beds, which were arranged between the guns, almost 
touched each other. If we had had other furniture, we 
should not have known what to do with it, three or 
four chairs and a couple of small tables being all that 
we could afterwards find space for. 

We found in the morning that the gun battery adjoining 
ours was, if possible, more crowded than the one we oc- 
cupied, and the casemates were as much crowded as the 
batteries. There were as I have stated, four casemates on 
the lower or ground floor, allotted to prisoners. Three of 
these contained nine or ten persons each, and into the 
fourth were thrust at that time very nearly thirty pris- 
oners, who were either privateersmen, or sailors who had 
been taken while running the blockade on the Southern 



20 

coast. These men had neither beds nor blankets, and 
were all, or nearly all, in irons. Their situation was 
wretched in the extreme. 

Such was the condition of things at Fort La Fayette 
when we reached it, and we were not a little astonished 
to learn from our friends, who had been there longer, 
that their situation had been even worse a few weeks 
previously, than it then was. To give a correct idea of 
the manner in which the Government dealt with gentle- 
men who, by its own admission, had been arrested, or 
were then held merely by w r ay of precaution, I insert 
the following letters, which had, before my arrival, been 
sent by my father to the parties to whom they are 
respectively addressed : 

"Fort La Fayette, N. Y., August 1st, 1861. 

"Hon SIMON CAMERON, SeJy of War, 

"Washington, D. C. 

"Sir: 

"After the interview I had with you in Fort McHenry on the 4th 
ulto. , and in view of the assurances you then expressed . as to the manner 
in which I and the gentlemen with me, were entitled to be treated 
during our confinement by the General Government, I cannot refrain 
from expressing my surprise, at the condition in which, by its ord< rs, 
we now find ourselves. On Monday evening last, we were placed on 
board the steamer Joseph Whitney, with a detachment of soldiers ; 
all information as to our place of destination, being positively re- 
fused, both to us and to the members of our families. Both Gene- 
ral Dix and Major Morris, however, gave the most positive assu- 
rances that, at the place to which we should be taken, we would be 
made much more comfortable, and the limits of our confinement 
would be less restricted than at Fort McHenry. Yesterday we were 
landed here, and are kept in close custody. No provision whatever 
had been made here for us, and last night we were shut up, eight 
persons in a vaulted room or casemate, about twenty-four by fourteen 
feet, having three small windows, each about three feet by fourteen 
inches, and a close wooden door, which was shut and locked upon us 
soon after 9 o'clock, and remained so until morning. Some of the 
party, by permission, brought on our own bedsteads and bedding 



21 

with which we had heen compelled to supply ourselves at Fort 
Mcilenry ; otherwise we should have been compelled to lie on the 
hare tioor, the officers here stating to us, that they had no supplies 
whatever, and could not furnish us with blankets, even of the must 
o.dn ary kind. We are distinctly notified that the orders under 
which the commanding officer of the post is acting, require him to 
impose up: n us the following, among other restrictions, viz. : we are 
allowed to receive or forward no letters from or to, even our own 
families, unless they are submitted to inspection and perusal by some 
military officer; — no friend can visit us without the permission of 
Colonel Bukke, whose quarters are not at this Fort, and no iutima- 
tiou has been given that such permission will be readily granted ; — 
we are to receive no newspapers from any quarter ; — for one hour in 
the morning, and one in the evcuing only, we are to be allowed to 
take exercise by walking about in a small square, not larger than 
some sixty or seventy feet each way, surrouuded on the four sides by 
the massive buildings of the Fort, three stories in height. We were, 
on our arrival here, required to surrender all the money we had, and 
all writing paper and envelopes — our baggage being all searched for 
these and other articles that might be chosen to be considered as 
contraband. It is unnecessary to give any further details to satisfy 
you, that our condition, as to physical comfort, is no better than 
that of the worst felons in auy common jail in the country. Having 
been arrested and already imprisoned for a month, without a charge 
of any legal offence having been, as yet, preferred against me, or 
those arrested at the same time with me, it is useless to make any 
further protest to you against the coutinuance of our confinement — 
But we do insist, as a matter of common right, as well as in fulfil- 
ment of your own declarations to me, that if the government chooses 
to exercise its power, by restraining us of our liberty, it is bound in 
ordinary decency to make such provision for our comfort and health, 
as gentlemen against whom, if charges have been preferred, they have 
not been made known, and all opportunily for an investigation has 
been denied, are recognized in every civilized community to be en- 
titled to. It is but just to Colonel Burke and Lieutenant Wood, who 
commands the garrison here, that I should add, that both of those 
officers have professed their desire to extend to us all comforts, that 
their instructions will allow, and the means at their command will 
enable them to do. They have, however, each stated that the orders 
under which they act, are imperative, and that their supplies of even 
the most common articles, are at present very limited. 1 have writ- 



ten this letter on my bed, sitting on the floor, upon a carpet bag, 
there being neither table, chair, stool or bench in the room. 

" I have the honor to be 

" Your obedient servant, 

" CHARLES HOWARD." 



"Fort La Fayette, N. Y. Harbor, August 7th, 1861. 
"Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Sec'ry of War, 

" Washington, D. C. 
"Sir:— 

"I addressed a communication yesterday to Colonel Burke, 
which he advised me he has forwarded to Washington. In reply, he 
has written a note to Lieutenant Wood, and instructed him to read it 
to us. The substance of this note was, that as some of the letters we 
had written to our families, if they were to find their way into the 
newspapers, 'might influence the public mind,' the Colonel had 
thought it proper to forward them all to the headquarters of the 
army. He further stated that the orders he had received were, to 
1 treat us kindly, but keep us safely.' As to the first part, allow me 
to say, that whatever our condition may be, the minds of our friends, 
and of all others, who may feel any interest in the matter, will surely 
be less apt to be influenced unfavorably towards the government by 
knowing the truth about us, than they will be by their finding that 
our communications with them are intercepted, and that they are 
allowed to hear nothing whatever as to how we are treated. They 
will necessarily conclude that our imprisonment is exactly like that 
of those who used to be confined in the Bastile, (as in fact it is,) who 
were allowed to hold no communications except such as might be 
entirely agreeable and acceptable to their custodians. They will, of 
course, be kept in a continual state of great anxiety and uneasiness, 
and their sympathies will be constantly excited in our behalf. The 
distress that will thus be inflicted upon our families, can be termed 
nothing less than cruelty. In the next place, it is hard to conceive 
how it can be reconciled, with anything like the idea of 'kind treat- 
ment,' to prohibit our reception of all newspapers whatever, or the 
unrestricted delivery to us, without examination, of all letters that may 
be addressed to us ; whilst it certainly cannot be shown that such 
prohibitions are at all necessary to ensure our ' safe-keeping.' The 



23 

examination of, and the discretion claimed to retain letters to us from 
the nearest members of our families, as well as the preventing us 
from receiving newspapers, can only be regarded as measures of 
punishment, adopted towards those who have been convicted of no 
offence ; to whom no opportunity has been afforded for an investigation 
of any charges that may possibly have been preferred against them ; 
and for whose arrest, as our counsel were assured by General Banks, 
there were no other reasons than the allegations set forth by him in his 
proclamation ; and the continuance of whose confinement, he stated 
to be solely a precautionary measure on the part of the government. 
These assurances were given by him at Fort McHenry. I will add 
that, whatever may be the disposition of the officer commanding the 
post, and of those in this garrison, to ' treat us kindly,' they are 
restricted in doing so, within extremely narrow limits, either by other 
orders they may have received, or by the means of extending such 
treatment not having been supplied to them. We are isolated — at a 
distance of two hundred miles from our families, and all but a few 
friends ; and with these we are permitted to have no intercourse. 
We are thrown upon our own resources — those of us who may have 
means, being allowed to find, at our own cost, within the Fort, 
decent, but very ordinary fare, whilst those who cannot, in justice to 
their families, afford such expense, have nothing but the ordinary 
rations of the soldier, which are of the coarsest kind. In conse- 
quence of the delay in other departments of the service, in complying 
with the requisitions which the officers here have made, we should at 
this moment, though we have been here a week, have been without a 
chair or table but for the courtesy of Lieutenant Stirling, who, 
seeing our state of utter discomfort, has lent to us two chairs from his 
own quarters; and that of the wife of a Sergeant, who has lent us a 
small stand. We are informed, however, that a supply of such 
articles may be expected, for our use, from the city, this evening. 
Finally, there are six of us confined in one room, precisely similar, 
in all respects, to that described in my letter of the 1st inst., to 
which I beg leave to refer you. 

" I have the honor to be 

"Your obedient servant, 

"CHARLES HOWARD." 



24 

"Fort La Fayette, N. Y. Harbor, August $th, 1861. 
"Lieut. Gen. SCOTT, Commander-in-Chief, U. S. A. 

" Headquarters, "Washington, D. C. 
"Sir: 

"By a letter received last night from Mrs. Howard, I learn 
that in reply to the inquiries she made of you, she was informed that 
I would be "decently lodged and subsisted here." I wrote to the 
Hon. the Secretary of War, on the 1st inst., and again yesterday, 
advising him of the treatment which I and my fellow prisoners are 
receiving. A perusal of those letters would satisfy you that these 
assurances are not verified. I need here only say, that we are not 
" decently lodged," nor are we in any sense of the words "decently 
subsisted" by the Government. The only proffer of subsistence made 
to us, has been to feed us like the private soldiers of the garrison, or 
to allow us to procure other meals at our own cost. 

' ' I have the honor to be 

" Your obedient servant, 

"CHARLES HOWARD." 



11 Fort La Fayette, N. Y. Harbor, August 12th, 1861. 
"Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Sec'g of War, 

"Washington, D. C. 
"Sir: 

" I laid before you a statement of the condition in which I 
am kept, in two former communications, the one on the 1st inst., and 
the other a few days subsequently ; to which I beg leave to refer. 
And I should not again trouble you, had I not, since my last, learned 
on the direct authority of Lieutenant-General Scott, that an order had 
been given by the Department of State, that the political prisoners 
confined at Fort La Fayette, shall be " decently lodged and subsisted, 
unless they prefer to provide for themselves." The "decent lodg- 
ing" furnished us, consists in putting seven gentlemen to sleep in 
one room, of which I have before given you a description. Within 
this or at the door of it, we are required to remain, except during 
two hours in the day or whilst taking our meals. 



25 

The ' ' decent subsistence " offered us, in the alternative of our 
declining, or not having the means to provide for ourselves, is much 
inferior in many respects, to that furnished to convicted felons in the 
Baltimore Penitentiary and Jail ; and so far as I am informed, in any 
well-regulated prison in the country. 

" The officers here advise us, that this is the only fare which, under 
the instructions given, and the means allowed to them by the Govern- 
ment, they can offer. How far such treatment is in accordance with the 
instructions of the Government, as expressed by the Department of 
State, with the assurance given to me personally by yourself, or with 
the promises voluntarily made by Major-General John A. Dix, and 
Major Wm. W. Morris, I leave it, sir, for you to judge. 

" I have the honor to be 

" Your obedient servant, 

"CHARLES HOWAED. 



"Fort La Fayette, N. Y. Harbor, August l$th, 1861. 

"Hon. WM. H. SEWARD, Sec' y of State, 

Washington, D. C. 
"Sir: 

"My family were informed by Lieutenant-General Scott, 
under date of the 3d inst. , that an order had been given ' by the 
Department of State, that the political prisoners confined at Fort La 
Fayette shall be decently lodged and subsisted, unless they prefer to 
provide for themselves.' About the same time I was advised by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Burke, commanding this post, that his instruc- 
tions were ' to treat us kindly, but keep us safely.' I beg leave, sir, 
to inform you that your order has not been complied with. It cannot 
be considered as 'decent lodging' to put a number of gentlemen 
accustomed to the comforts of life, to sleep in one low vaulted room, 
in or at the door of which they are confined, except for two hours in 
the twenty-four. The number sleeping in the room in which I am 
now placed, has varied from five to seven. There are now here, six 
of us. The only subsistence provided for us by the Government, as 
the alternative of providing for ourselves, has been the proffer of the 
single ration, distributed here to the private soldier, which is inferior 



26 

both in quantity and quality, to the fare furnished to the convicted 
felons in many of the jails and penitentiaries throughout the country. 
And this is the ' decent subsistence,' offered to men who have been 
arrested, and are held on suspicion only, and who have not ceased to 
demand an open investigation of any charges that may possibly have 
been preferred against them ; a demand which has been persistently 
denied. I have no grounds for imputing to Colonel Burke, or the 
officers of this garrison, any intentional disposition to treat us 
unkindly. But acting as they state themselves to be, in obedience to 
the orders which they have received, we are subject to various harsh 
and arbitrary restrictions, which are utterly irreconcilable with the 
idea of ' kind treatment,' whilst they are equally unnecessary for the 
ensuring of our safe-keeping. I deem it useless at present, to go 
more into details, as I have already described the condition in which 
we are placed, in three communications to the Hon. the Secretary of 
War, on the 1st, 7th and 12th inst. respectively, and in one to 
Lieutenant-General Scott, on the 8th inst., of none of which does 
any notice appear to have been taken. Should you, sir, however, 
desire a fuller statement than I have here made, to be addressed 
directly to yourself, one shall be forwarded, as soon as I may be 
apprised of your wishes. 

' ' I have the honor to be 

" Your obedient servant, 

"CHARLES HOWARD." 



Not the slightest notice was taken of these letters by 
the persons to whom they were addressed, unless the few 
chairs, and sheets, and blankets, which were furnished 
some time afterwards, were distributed by special order 
from Washington. 

To show how desirous the officers of the Government 
were, at that time, to keep, even from the families of the 
prisoners, all knowledge of their actual condition, I am 
permitted to cite this letter from Mr. Gatchell, one of 
the Police Commissioners of Baltimore. Lieutenant Wood 
refused to forward it to its destination. It was written 
in pencil : 



27 

" Fort La Fayette, New York. 

" My Dear Wife : — 

" I write on my knee, and with very little light — but I can- 
not help saying to you, so that you may know as soon as possible, 
that, notwithstanding the assurances given to us when we left Fort 
McHenry, we are altogether as uncomfortable as it is possible to be. 
The gentleman in command has expressed his desire to do all in his 
power for our comfort, but he has not the means. Don't write until 
I give you notice, for at present we are cut off from all communication 
with our friends, except writing to them, and our letters inspected. 
Love to all. Affectionately, 



" WM. H. GATCHELL. 



Wednesday Evening, 31si JwZ?/." 



Lieutenant Wood, who had expressed his desire to do 
all in his power for the comfort of the prisoners, sent back 
the above letter after the lapse of two or three weeks, 
to Mr. Gatchell. He informed Mr. Gatchell, when he 
returned it, that it had been forwarded to Washington 
for inspection, and that he was not allowed to let it pass. 

I had, during the visit to New York, of which I have 
already spoken, learned how outrageously my father and 
his companions were treated, and I published in the New 
York Daily Neivs, & full statement of the facts. It was 
never contradicted by the agents of the Government, and 
was apparently unnoticed by the public. At that time, 
also, I met Major Clttz, of the United States Army, who 
was then stationed at Fort Hamilton, who, in reply to 
some remarks of mine, admitted that there were not decent 
accommodations in Fort La Fayette for fifteen prisoners. 
Major Clitz came over to Fort La Fayette while I was my- 
self a prisoner there, and I reminded him of that conversa- 
tion. He unhesitatingly replied that he was still of the 
same opinion. 

Shortly after the visit just mentioned, the prisoners were 
permitted to receive the daily papers, and were allowed the 
use of liquor, under certain restrictions. The liquors they 
chose to order, were kept by Lieut. Wood, and were given 



28 

out, day by day, in moderate quantities. The day after we 
arrived, we sent to New York for beds, bedding and other 
necessary articles of furniture. These we received a few 
days arterwards. Before our arrival, those of the prisoners 
who chose to do so, had obtained permission to board with 
the Ordnance Sergeant, who had been many years at the 
post. He and his family occupied two or three of the lower 
casemates, and he undertook to furnish us two meals daily 
at a charge, to each prisoner, of a dollar a day. This ar- 
rangement most of our party adopted. The others preferred 
or could not afford to do otherwise than accept the Gov- 
ernment rations, upon which the majority of the prisoners 
were living. These were of the coarsest description, and 
were served in the coarsest style. A tin plate and a tin cup 
to each person constituted the whole table furniture. The 
dinners consisted of fat pork and beans, a cup of thin soup 
and bread, or of boiled beef and potatoes and bread on alter- 
nate days. For breakfast, bread, and weak, unpalatable 
coffee, were distributed. This fare was precisely the same 
as that furnished to the soldiers. I more than once exam- 
ined these rations after they were served. The coffee was a 
muddy liquid in which the taste of coffee was barely per- 
ceptible, the predominating flavor being a combination of 
burnt beans and foul water. The soup was, if possible, 
worse, the only palatable thing about it being the few stray 
grains of rice that could sometimes be fished out of each can. 
The pork and beef were of the most indifferent quality, and 
were at times only half cooked. Over and over again have 
I seen gentlemen who had been always accustomed to all 
the comforts of life, forced to turn away with loathing from 
the miserable food thus provided for them. The fare fur- 
nished, to those of us who boarded with the Sergeant, was 
very plain, but good enough of its kind. 

On the 8th of October we addressed the following remon- 
strance to the President. The statements which it contains, 
were purposely made as moderate and temperate as was con- 
sistent with the truth. 



29 



"Fort La Fayette, Sth October, 1861. 

"Sis Excellency, the President of the United States, 

"Sir: 

" The undersigned, prisoners confined in Fort La Fayette, are 
compelled to address you this protest and remonstrance against the 
inhumanity of their confinement and treatment. The officers in 
command at Fort Hamilton and this post, being fully aware of the 
grievances and privations to which we are obliged to submit, we are 
bound for humanity's sake, to presume that they have no authority or 
means to redress or remove them. They in fact, assure us that they 
have not. Our only recourse therefore, is to lay this statement before 
you, in order that you may interpose to prevent our being any longer 
exposed to them. 

"The prisoners at this post are confined in four small casemates, 
and two large battery-rooms. The former are about fourteen feet in 
breadth by twenty-four or thereabouts in length, with arched ceilings 
about eight-and-a-half feet high at the highest point, the spring of 
the arch commencing at about five feet from the floor. In each of 
these is a fire-place, and the floors are of plank. The battery-rooms 
are of considerably higher pitch, and the floors are of brick, and a 
large space is occupied in them by the heavy guns and gun-carriages 
of the batteries. They have no fire-places or means of protection 
from cold or moisture, and the doors are large, like those of a 
carriage-house, rendering the admission of light impossible without 
entire exposure to the temperature and weather without. In one of 
the small casemates, twenty-three prisoners are confined, two-thirds of 
them in irons, without beds, bedding, or any of the commonest 
necessaries. Their condition could hardly be worse, if they were in 
a slave-ship, on the middle passage. In each of two, out of the 
three other casemates, ten gentlemen are imprisoned ; in the third 
there are nine, and a tenth is allotted to it ; their beds and necessary 
luggage leaving them scarce space to move, and rendering the 
commonest personal cleanliness almost an impossibility. The doors 
are all fastened from six or thereabouts in the evening, until the 
same hour in the morning, and with all the windows (which are 
small) left open in all weathers, it is hardly possible to sleep in the 
foul, unwholesome air. Into one of the larger battery-rooms, there 
are thirty-four prisoners closely crowded ; into the other, thirty-five. 
All the doors are closed for the same period as stated above, and the 
only ventilation is then from the embrasures, and so imperfect that 



30 

the atmosphere is oppressive and almost stifling. Even during the 
day, three of the doors of one of these apartments are kept closed, 
against the remonstrances of the medical men who are among the 
inmates, and to the utter exclusion of wholesome and necessary light 
and air. In damp weather, all these unhealthy annoyances and 
painful discomforts are of course greatly augmented, and when, as 
to-day, the prisoners are compelled by rain to continue within doors, 
their situation becomes almost intolerable. The undersigned do not 
hesitate to say, that no intelligent inspector of prisons can fail to 
pronounce their accommodations as wretchedly deficient, and alto- 
gether incompatible with health, and it is obvious, as we already feel, 
that the growing inclemencies of the season which is upon us, must 
make our condition more and more nearly unendurable. Many of the 
prisoners are men advanced in life ; many more are of infirm health 
or delicate constitutions. The greater portion of them have been 
accustomed to the reasonable comforts of life, none of which are 
accessible to them here, and their liability to illness, is, of course, 
proportionately greater on that account. Many have already suffered 
seriously, from indisposition augmented by the restrictions imposed 
upon them. A contagious cutaneous disease is now spreading in 
one of the larger apartments, and the physicians who are among 
us, are positive that some serious general disorder must be the 
inevitable result, if our situation remains unimproved. The use 
of any but salt water, except for drinking, has been, for some time, 
altogether denied to us. The cistern water, itself, for some days 
past, has been filled with dirt and animalcules, and the supply, even 
of that, has been so low, that yesterday we were almost wholly with- 
out drinking-water. A few of us, who have the means to purchase 
some trifling necessaries, have been able to relieve ourselves from 
this latter privation, to some extent, by procuring an occasional, 
though greatly inadequate, supply of fresh water from the Long 
Island side. 

It only remains to add, that the fare is of the commonest and 
coarsest soldiers' rations, almost invariably ill-prepared and ill- 
cooked. Some of us, who are better able than the rest, are per- 
mitted to take our meals at a private mess, supplied by the wife of 
the Ordnance Sergeant, for which we pay, at the rate of a dollar per 
day, from our own funds. Those who are less fortunate, are com- 
pelled to submit to a diet so bad and unusual, as to be seriously 
prejudicial to their health. 

The undersigned have entered into these partial details, because 
they cannot believe that it is the purpose of the government to destroy 



31 

their health or sacrifice their lives, by visiting them with such cruel 
hardships, and they -will hope, unless forced to a contrary conclusion, 
that it can only be necessary to present the facts to you, plainly, in 
order to secure the necessary relief. We desire to say nothing, here, 
in regard to the justice or injustice of our imprisonment, but we 
respectfully insist upon our right to be treated with decency and 
common humanity, so long as the government sees fit to confine us. 

' ' Commending the matter to your earliest consideration and prompt 
interference, we are your obedient servants, 



H. May, 

E. C. Lowber, 
Wm. G. Harrison, 
Robt. Mure, 

Jno. Williams, 
Robt. M. Denison, 
Saml. H. Lyon, 
L. Sangston, 
G. 0. Van Amringe, 
Hilary Cenas, 
W. R. Butt, 

B. P. LOYALL, 

W. H. Ward, 
T. Parkin Scott, 
P. F. Raisin, 
Jno. C. Braine, 
J. H. Gordon, 

C. J. Durant, 
M. W. Barr, 

R. T. DuRRETT, 

J. Hanson Thomas, 
C. J. Faulkner, 
Chas. Howard, 
Geo. Wm. Brown, 
Wm. H. Gatchell, 
C. S. Morehead, 
Jas. A. McMaster, 
Chas. H. Pitts, 
R. H. Alvey, 
S. T. Wallis, 
Austin E. Smith, 

F. K. Howard, 
5 



J. T. McFeat, 

J. K. MlLLNER, 

B. Mills, M. D., 
Andrew Lynch, M. D. 
H. R. Stevens, 
J. W. Robarts, 
R. R. Walker, 
Chas. M. Hagelin, 
Bethel Burton, 
S. J. Anderson, 
Rich. S. Freeman, 
G. P. Pressay, 

L. G. QuiNLAN, 

W. E. Kearney, 
G. A. Shackleford, 
Jno. H. Cusick, 
Jos. W. Griffith, 
Robt. Drane, 
Jno. W. Davis, 
T. S. Wilson, 
Robt. Tansill, 
A. D. Wharton, 
Saml. Eakins, 
J. B. Barbour, 
Edw. Payne, 
A. Dawson, 
Jno. M. Brewer, 
Ellis B. Schnabel, 
H. B. Claiborne, 
F. Wyatt, 
E. S. Ruggles, 
Jas. E. Murphry, 



32 

Henry M. Warfield, L. S. Hobsclaw, 

Geo. P. Kane, Algernon S. Sullivan, 

Chas. Macgill, M. D., Jas. Chapin, 

Geo. W. Barnard, E. B. Wilder, 

F. M. Crow, A. McDowell, 

H. G. Thurber, Wm. Grubbs, 

E. G. Kilbourne, Chas. Kopperl, 

T. H. Wooldridge, Thos. W. Hall, Jr. 



On the 10th of October, the following note was sent 
to Lieutenant Wood, who ordered it to he read to the 
prisoners : 

" Fort Hamilton, New York, October 10th, 1861. 

"Sir:— 

"lam directed by Colonel Burke to say to you, that you can 
inform the prisoners, that their Petition has been forwarded, through 
Colonel Townsend, to the President United States. 

' ' Very respectfully, 

' ' Your obedient servant, 

"J. C. LAY, 
" First Lieutenant \2th Infantry. 

" P.S. — Colonel presumed that boat has brought you a supply of 
water. J- C. L." 

Of the gentlemen who signed the above remonstrance, 
which Colonel Burke thought proper to term a " Petition," 
many were members of the Maryland Legislature ; a large 
number were, up to the time of their incarceration, officers 
of the Navy ; and others were men of high social or 
political position in their respective States. No reply 
was ever received from "Washington. 

The rules to which we were expected to conform, w^ere 
posted on the walls of the different batteries and case- 
mates. They read as follows : 



33 

"REGULATIONS FOR THE GUIDANCE OF CITIZEN PRISONERS 
CONFINED AT THIS POST. 

<< \ s t. — The rooms of the prisoners will be ready for inspection at 
9 o'clock, A.M. All cleaning, &c, will be done by the prisoners 
themselves, unless otherwise directed. All washing will be done in 
the yard. 

" 2d. — No conversation will be allowed with any member of this 
garrison, and all communication in regard to their wants will be made 
to the Sergeant of the Guard. 

<< 3d. — No prisoner will leave his room without the permission of 
the Sergeant of the Guard. ********* 

" 4th. — Prisoners will avoid all conversations on the political 
affairs of this country, within the hearing of any member* of this 
garrison. 

" 5th. — Light will be allowed in the prisoners' rooms until 9.15, 
P.M. After this hour, all talking, or noise of any kind, will cease. 

" 6th. — The prisoners will obey implicitly the directions of any 
member of the guard. 

Cl 7th. — Cases of sickness will be reported at 7, A.M. 

" Sth. — Any transgressions of the foregoing rules will be corrected 
by solitary imprisonment, or such other restrictions as may be re- 
quired to the strict enforcement thereof. 

[Signed] " CHARLES 0. WOOD, 

' ' Second Lieutenant, 9th Infantry, 

' ' Commanding Post. 
"Fort La Fayette, New York Harbor, August 3d, 1861." 

Shortly after we arrived at Fort La Fayette, the fol- 
lowing additional order was issued : 

' ' No prisoners will be allowed to recognize or have any communi- 
cation with any persons visiting this Fort, excepting when the visitor 
brings an order from the proper authority, permitting an interview, 
which interview will be held in the presence of an officer, and not to 
exceed one hour ; the conversation during the interview will be 
carried on in a tone of voice loud enough to be distinctly heard by 
the officer in whose presence the interview is held." 



34 

These rules were, with a single exception, strictly en- 
forced. Those of us whose quarters were contiguous, were 
suffered to pass backwards and forwards, at will, provided 
we did not step off the pavement, which ran around the 
enclosure. But we could not visit the quarters of those 
who were on the opposite side of the Fort, without per- 
mission of the Sergeant of the Guard. We were only- 
allowed to walk for one hour in the morning, and one 
hour in the afternoon, upon the little patch of ground 
within the Fort. Why the privilege of walking there, 
at all times, was denied us, it is hard to conjecture. 
The space inside was so small, that, when we took our 
afternoon's exercise, it was literally crowded. The walls 
surrounding it were three stories high, and there was 
but one point at which egress was possible, and that was 
just at the guard-house, where the guard was always on 
duty. It was but a wanton and senseless restriction to 
confine us to the pavement in front of our quarters. At 
first, the prisoners had to clean their own rooms, and 
to perform all other similar menial offices. Afterwards, 
they were allowed, for an hour or two in the morning, 
to employ one of the soldiers, who, being unable to speak 
or understand the English language, may be presumed 
to have been unfit for military duty, as he certainly was 
for any other. 

The most private communications regarding domestic 
affairs or business having to be subjected to the criticism 
of Lieutenant Wood, we preferred to be silent concerning 
such matters, be the consequences what they might. Such 
were the regulations to which the Government, or its 
agents, thought proper to subject its victims. 

Our complaints of the manner in which we were treated, 
had been persistent and decided ; and from time to time, 
released prisoners made them known to the public through 
the columns of various newspapers. One of these state- 
ments appeared in the New York Herald, of October 24th. 
It did not contain a line that was not strictly true. On 
the 26th, the following letters were published in the 
same journal, I presume, by Colonel Burke's directions. 



35 

The first was addressed to the United States' Marshal 
in New York. It was dated, the Herald said, on the 9th 
of October, 1861. 

"Sir: — I have the honor to enclose herewith, a list of articles 
necessary for the State prisoners confined at this Post, which you will 
please send me at your earliest convenience. 

' ' The water being almost entirely out, you will please send me a 
water-boat, with a supply of water to fill two cisterns, which will last 
until we have rain enough to obviate the difficulty, You cannot 
comply too soon, as it is an immediate necessity. 

' ' List of articles necessary for the comfort of prisoners : 

" 100 blankets, 200 sheets, 200 pillow cases, 50 single mattresses, 
50 pillows, 50 iron bedsteads, 50 arm chairs, 20 small tables, 50 
washstands, 25 washbowls and pitchers, 10 small oval stoves and 
pipe, 50 wooden buckets, 100 tin cups, 250 yards of rope carpet for 
laying on brick floors. I take this opportunity to inform you that the 
ship's galley and other articles furnished by you, are very satisfactory, 
and answer the purpose for which they were required. 

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"CHAKLES O. WOOD/' 

" Second Lieutenant of Infantry, 

" Commanding Post. 

" Approved : — Martin Burke, 

Lieutenant- Colonel , Commanding 

" Forts Hamilton and La Fayette. iJ 



" Headquarters, Fort Hamilton, October 2£th, 1861. 
"ROBERT MURRAY, Esq., 

" United States Marshal, New York. 

"My attention was drawn to a statement in the Herald of this 
morning, from a prisoner lately released from Fort La Fayette. Not 
I wish to call your attention to the same article, and submit its further 
consideration to your judgment. 

" You and I both know how hard the Government has striven to 
make these prisoners comfortable, and if in the whirlpool of business, 



36 

they have been apparently neglected, we can both testify as to the 
present ample preparations which are being made, not only to render 
them comfortable, but even to put it beyond the complaint of some 
who would be unreasonable. 

" In regard to myself, I can simply say, that I have, to the utmost 
of my ability, tried to do my duty, alike to the Government and the 
prisoners. ' 

"Lieutenant Wood is unceasing in his care and watchfulness, and 
as you well know, ready at any time to do all he can for the comfort 
of those under his charge. 

" With regard to improper and false communications from released 
prisoners, if such there are, it is a question for the Honorable 
Secretary of State to decide how far such communications invalidate 
the parole of the person or persons making them. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"MARTIN BURKE, 

' ' Lieutenant- Colonel Commanding." 

It will be observed that Lieutenant Wood's requisition 
was only made the day after the date of the " remon- 
strance" which we had sent to Mr. Lincoln. Whether 
it would have been made at all but for that remonstrance, 
may well be doubted. We had been over two weeks in 
Fort La Fayette before Lieutenant Wood thought proper 
to give any such evidence of that '''care and watchful- 
ness" which Colonel Burke attributed to him. " How 
hard the G-overnment had striven ' ' to make the prisoners 
comfortable may be judged by the foregoing narrative, 
and from the fact that the articles for which Lieutenant 
Wood called on Marshal Murray, only reached the Fort 
sometime about the- date of Colonel Burke's letter, and 
we had then been imprisoned there nearly a month. That 
Colonel Burke made any special efforts to do his duty 
to the prisoners, is utterly untrue. He paid a visit to 
the Fort about the 5th of August, and did not appear 
there again until about the 26th of October, and but 
for facts which I shall subsequently mention, it is not 
likely that he would have paid the latter visit at all. 
Had he chosen to inspect our quarters more frequently, 



37 

or give us opportunities of preferring our complaints, he 
might, had he so pleased, have mitigated, in very many 
respects, the rigors of our imprisonment. I may add, 
that no "communications from released prisoners," that 
I ever saw, were- in any particular, untrue or exaggerated, 
and the promptitude with which Col. Burke threw out his 
sinister suggestion to the Marshal, shows how anxious he 
was for the suppression of all such information. 

Our correspondence was subjected to the strictest scrutiny, 
and letters written by the prisoners were frequently return- 
ed to them, and generally because they contained facts which 
the Government did not desire should become known, or re- 
flections on the Government itself. On one occasion Lieut. 
Wood returned to me a letter which I had written to my 
wife. No reason was assigned for this ; but I was forced to 
the conclusion that it was sent back because Lieut. Wood 
chose to consider it too long. It was a small sheet of note 
paper. There was nothing in the contents to which he could 
object, and as two letters of the same length as mine, were 
returned to the writers that morning, with a message from 
Lieut. Wood that they were too long, I inferred that mine 
was sent back for a similar cause. To such annoyances we 
were continually subjected. At times our condition became 
so unendurable, that finding our complaints unheeded, we 
expressed our sense of the indignities put upon us, in per- 
fectly plain language. On one occasion, when outraged by 
some fresh act of harshness or impertinence, I wrote a letter 
to a friend, in which, after describing our situation, I used 
this language : 



' ' To have imprisoned men soleiy on account of their political opin- 
ions, is enough to bring eternal infamy on every individual connected 
with the Administration ; hut the manner in which we have been 
treated since our confinement, is, if possible, even more disgraceful to 
them. I should have supposed that, if the Government chose to 
confine citizens because their sentiments were distasteful to it, it 
would have contented itself with keeping them in custody, but would 
have put them in tolerably comfortable quarters ***** 
* * * If I tad been told twelve months ago, that the American 



38 

people would ever have permitted their rulers, under any pretence 
whatever, to establish such a despotism as I have lived to witness, I 
should have indignantly denied the assertion ; and if I had been then 
told, that officers of the Army would ever consent to be the instru- 
ments to carry out the behests of a vulgar dictator, I should have 
predicted that they would rather have stripped their epaulets from 
their shoulders. But we live to learn ; and I have learned much in 
the past few months." 



This letter was returned to me the next morning, and on 
the following day one of the sergeants handed me a letter 
addressed by Colonel Burke, to Lieutenant Wood, which he 
said the latter had ordered him to read to me particularly, 
and to the other prisoners. I was unable to procure a copy 
of this letter, but remember the tenor of it. Colonel Burke 
expressed his surprise that I should have attempted to make 
him and Lieutenant Wood the medium through which to 
cast reflections on their superior officers. He was also 
pleased to say that as my family had always borne a 
gentlemanly character in Maryland he had not expected 
that I would be guilty of conduct ' ' so indelicate, to use no 
stronger terms." He concluded by insisting that the 
Government had been, and would be unremitting in its 
exertions to make us comfortable. 

I immediately sent him this note : 



"Fort La Fayette, October 23c?. 
" Lieutenant-Colonel BURKE, 

"Sib: 

" Lieutenant Wood, has communicated to me the contents of 
your note to him of this date. Permit me to say, in reply to your 
allusions to the course I have thought proper to pursue, that you 
mistake me much if you suppose (as you seem to do) that a mere 
desire to embarrass or annoy you, or the officers under you, has 
prompted me to write the letters which have been returned to me. 
The fact that little or nothing has been done to make me or my fellow 
prisoners decently comfortable, is self-evident to any one who chooses 
to inspect our quarters, and it was on that account that I chose to 



39 

speak in terms of indignant denunciation of those who are responsible 
for the privations I suffer. If I made, or sought to make, the officers 
of the garrison the 'instruments' to convey my complaints, it was 
because I am denied any other alternative. The invidious allusions 
which you have deemed it necessary to make in regard to me, I need 
not, and do not propose, now, to discuss. But you will permit me to 
remind you that if you have duties to discharge, I have rights to 
vindicate. The only one of these which has not been absolutely 
destroyed, is the right of free speech within the narrow bounds of 
my prison, and this it is my duty and purpose to defend to the last. 
In the exercise of this poor privilege I wrote the letters which I knew 
were to pass into your hands. As you have forwarded to the 
Adjutant-General the correspondence between Lieutenant Wood and 
yourself, I beg that you will do me the justice to forward also this 
note. I remain, 

' ' Your obedient servant, 

"F. K. HOWARD." 

To the foregoing note, he wrote this reply : 

"Headquarters, Fort Hamilton, 

"New York Harbor, 24th October, 1861. 

"Sir: 

"Please say to Mr. Howard, that I cheerfully forward his 
note of the 23d inst. to Colonel Townsend, agreeably to his request. 
" However much the efforts of this Government have fallen short of 
the expectations of the prisoners, to make them as comfortable as they 
may desire, still I must say that every exertion is being made by the 
Government for that purpose, and such exertions will certainly be 
continued. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"MARTIN BURKE, 
" Colonel- Commanding " 
"Lieutenant Wood, 

" Commanding Fort La Fayette." 

My father, to whom Colonel Burke's letter had been read, 
wrote to the Secretary of War, denying Colonel Burke's 
allegations, and charging him with neglect of duty. 
6 



40 



"Fort La Fayette, October 23d, 1861. 
"Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Sec 'y of War, 

"Washington, D. C. 
"Sir: 

"The Orderly-Sergeant has this morning, by order of the 
Commanding Officer of this Post, read to me in presence of a number 
of persons, a letter from Colonel Martin Burke to Lieutenant C. 0. 
Wood, written in reply to a communication from the Lieutenant to 
him. Copies of both of these letters, Colonel Burke states he has 
forwarded to Washington. I have asked for a copy of the Colonel's 
letter, but have not learned whether it will be given. In that letter, 
which is evidently intended as a rebuke to some of those confined 
here, Colonel Burke has undertaken to allude to the character and 
standing which my family have borne, for the purpose of introducing 
an offensive imputation, that one member of it has acted in a manner 
unbecoming a gentleman. This charge, I claim the right distinctly 
and directly to repudiate, and I have also to demand that an iuquiry 
be made under your authority into the conduct of Colonel Burke 
and Lieutenant Wood, in relation to their treatment of those con- 
fined at this place. I now formally charge Colonel Burke with 
conduct unbecoming an officer, and also with neglect of duty. He 
has not, so far as any prisoner here is aware, been within this Fort 
since on or about the 5th day of August last, and in undertaking to 
judge of Lieutenant Wood's manner of discharging his duty towards 
the prisoners under his charge, he must have acted upon the state- 
ments of that officer himself. The Surgeon of the post and one 
other officer from Fort Hamilton, have occasionally exchanged a 
few words with some of the prisoners, but whenever any of the 
latter have attempted to make any representations to them of our 
condition and treatment, both of those officers have declared that 
those matters are not in any manner, within the sphere of their 
duties. There has therefore, been no inspection of this prison, in 
which upwards of one hundred prisoners are confined, which would 
enable Colonel Burke to judge of the accuracy of the reports which 
he may have received. In the absence of all such means of 
knowledge or information, Colonel Burke has stated in an official 
letter, that Lieutenant Wood, an officer under his command, has 
'devoted his whole time to promoting the comfort of prisoners' 
here, or words to that effect. This statement, I charge to be not 
warranted by the facts, and to be entirely incorrect. I charge and 



41 

aver, that Lieutenant Wood has not only not devoted all, or even 
much of his time, to the promoting of our comfort, but that on the 
contrary, he has neither in his general bearing, nor in his conduct 
towards those consigned to his custody, paid that attention to their 
comfort, which even under the circumstances which the Government 
deemed sufficient to warrant their imprisonment, they have a right 
to demand. The immediate cause of the rebuke attempted to be 
administered to us by Colonel Burke, was a letter written to a 
friend by Mr. F. K. Howard, my son. However strong may have 
been the language used in that letter, it was the natural expression 
of feelings which are shared by every prisoner here, whose o] ininn 
I have heard. Among these are many gentlemen of as high 
character and standing as any in the country. No intimation has 
been given by Colonel Burke, that any specific fact stated in the 
letter was not true. Should he controvert a single one, my 
relations to the writer of the letter, and the mention made by 
Colonel Burke in his official communication, of my family, to say 
nothing of the assurances voluntarily tendered to me by you in 
Fort McHenry, as to the mode in which the Government con- 
sidered me as entitled to be treated, justify me in demanding an 
opportunity to substantiate it. Having already addressed to you 
three communications, from this place, of which no notice appears 
to have been taken, I should not again have troubled you, but 
that the issue I have now to make with Colonel Burke, involves mat- 
ters of a personal character to myself, and that I make direct 
charges against him and Lieutenant Wood, derogatory to their official 
positions, as officers of the army. 

" I hope, therefore, I may not be mistaken, in trusting that 
this communication may receive your early and serious attention. 

" I am sir, your obedient servant, 

" t CHARLES HOWARD." 

As usual, this letter was unnoticed by the authorities in 
Washington. 

In the miserable place which I have attempted to de- 
scribe, we passed the period between September 26th and 
October 30th. The batteries were very dark when the doors 
were closed, and very cold when the doors were open. We 
were locked up every night from dusk until sunrise ; and 
lights had to be put out at 9^ o'clock. In such a crowded 



42 

place it was almost impossible to read or write. We found 
it difficult sometimes to keep ourselves warm enough even 
with the aid of overcoats. At times again, the atmosphere 
of the room would be positively stifling. Some one or more 
of the inmates were constantly under medical treatment, 
and it may be imagined how noisome and unhealthy the 
room often was. As prisoners were, from time to time, dis- 
charged from the casemates, the remaining inmates would 
invite one or more of those in the gun batteries to fill the 
vacancies, permission to do so being first asked of the Ser- 
geant of the Guard. These invitations were given, not 
because the casemates were less crowded than the batteries, 
but because the first stranger who should be brought in, 
would certainly be put in the place of the prisoner who had 
been last discharged, and, as the casemates were to be kept 
filled to their utmost capacity, those occupying them pre- 
ferred to have their friends and acquaintances for their com- 
panions. Small and crowded as the casemates were, they 
were, nevertheless, a little more comfortable than the bat- 
teries, from having fire-places and wooden floors. I was 
fortunate enough to get into one of these casemates after I 
had been some two weeks in the Fort. 

About ten days before we left Fort La Fayette, Lieu- 
tenant Wood chose to make the prisoners responsible for the 
drunkenness of one of the soldiers, and prohibited the fur- 
ther use of liquor, of any kind, among the prisoners. It 
was discovered a few days afterwards, that some of the 
soldiers had stolen some of our liquor from the room in 
which Lieutenant Wood kept it, and to which the prisoners 
had no access. It was also discovered that the soldiers got 
liquor from the Long Island side, one of the crew of the boat 
having been detected in smuggling it into the Fort for their 
use. These facts sufficiently accounted for the drunkenness 
of the soldiers, but Lieutenant Wood did not, on that ac- 
count, relax his new rule. While we were allowed the use 
of liquor, no abuse of the privilege came under my observa- 
tion, nor do I believe there was any. Just before the new 
restriction was imposed on us, I had received from New 
York two small boxes of liquor containing a dozen-and-a- 



43 

half bottles, which passed, as usual, into Lieutenant 
Wood's keeping. The prohibition which followed, pre- 
vented my using any of it, and, when we were about leav- 
ing, I requested Lieutenant Wood, through one of the 
Sergeants, to send it on with me in charge of the officer who 
would have us in custody. This he did not do, and I never 
saw more of it. One or two of the prisoners afterwards 
received, at Fort Warren, the liquors that they left at Fort 
La Fayette, and one of the officers at the former Post in- 
formed me that there were some boxes on the bill of lading 
which did not reach Fort Warren. Whether any of my 
stores were among these boxes, I am unable to say. I only 
know that I never received the liquor which Lieutenant 
Wood had, and that many of my companions suffered in the 
same way. 

Those of our friends who obtained passes to visit the Fort, 
did so with great difficulty. The government seemed to 
have a strong disposition to exclude all strangers from the 
place. Six weeks before my arrest, I had made every effort 
to procure a permit to see my father, but could not succeed 
in getting one. Some New York politicians, however, were 
more favored. One of them, especially, Mr. William H. 
Ludlow, could enter the Fort at his pleasure, and see whom 
he pleased. On several occasions "when he made his visits, 
he sent for different individuals, to whom he represented him- 
self as possessing great influence at Washington, and offered 
to try and procure their release, provided he was paid for it. 
What he received altogether I do not know ; but I do know 
that he received two retaining fees, namely — $100 from one 
gentleman, and $150 from another. From the latter he had 
a promise of a contingent fee of $1,000. I do not believe 
he rendered any service to his clients, both of whom were 
taken to Fort Warren and exchanged or released nearly four 
months afterwards. 

The private soldiers at Fort La Fayette were worthy 
followers of their commanding officer. They were uni- 
formly as brutal in their manners towards the prisoners 
as they dared to be. The Sergeants, however, who were 
there when I was, were generally civil, and were as kind 



44 

as they had an opportunity of being. But, if the situation 
of those who were fortunate enough to enjoy good health 
was almost insupportable, the condition of the sick was 
far worse. No provision whatever was made for them. 
Men suffering from various diseases were compelled to 
remain in their close and damp quarters, and struggle 
through as best they could. One man, "a political pri- 
soner," had an acute attack of pneumonia, and lay for 
ten days in a damp, dark gun battery, with some thirty 
other prisoners. One of the privateersmen was dangerously 
ill with the same disease in the casemate in which so 
many of them were huddled together. When I obtained 
permission to carry him some little luxuries, I found him 
lying on the floor upon two blankets in a high fever, 
and without even a pillow under his head. He would have 
remained in the same condition had not the "political 
prisoners" relieved his necessities. It was not until he 
seemed to be drawing rapidly towards his end, that he was 
sent to a Hospital, somewhere on Staten Island. 

Another man, a "political prisoner," manifested symp- 
toms of insanity. His friends, and some of the physicians, 
who were among the prisoners, called Lieutenant Wood's 
attention to the case. He treated the statement with 
contemptuous indifference at the time, but a few days 
afterwards we learned that the man had been sent to the 
guard-house. Here he became thoroughly insane. In- 
stead of being sent instantly to an Asylum, he was kept, 
for some ten days, in the guard-house, and in double 
irons. His friends were not allowed free access to him, 
and surrounded by strange soldiers, he was, at times, 
apparently in an agony of dread. His shrieks were 
fearful, and one night, as he imagined he was about to 
be murdered, his screams were painfully startling to hear. 
In some of these paroxysms, he was actually gagged by the 
soldiers. He was subsequently removed to an Asylum, 
where, I believe, he eventually improved or recovered. A 
letter, written by one of our number to the counsel of the 
unfortunate man, in Baltimore, urging the exercise of his 
influence with the Government, on behalf of the sufferer, 



45 

was not allowed to reach its destination, although directed 
to the care of Lieut. General Scott. 

Among the pettier annoyances we underwent, the trouble 
we had about our washing may be mentioned. At first, we 
were allowed to send our clothes over to Long Island, where 
they were well enough washed, but for some reason best 
known to himself, Lieutenant Wood interfered, and deter- 
mined to have the washing done inside of the Fort, under 
his own supervision. It must have been a very fair specu- 
lation for him, for his charges were high, and the work was 
so carelessly performed, that he must have employed the 
fewest hands possible to do it. What he charged me by the 
piece, I cannot say, for he helped himself to his bill before 
he handed over my money to the officer who escorted us to 
Fort Warren. Probably it would not have been altogether 
safe to have demanded an account, for one of the Sergeants 
was put under arrest for complaining, as he stated to the 
prisoners, of Lieutenant Wood's prices for washing. On 
one occasion, Lieutenant Wood, in full view of the prisoners, 
kicked one of his boat's crew from the door of his own 
quarters, and continued the assault until the man had re- 
treated almost the whole length of the balcony upon that 
side of the Fort. I mention this as an illustration of his 
mode of dealing with his subordinates. Of the propriety 
and manliness of such a proceeding, on the part of the Com- 
manding Officer, others can judge for themselves. 

Many of the prisoners had friends and acquaintances in 
New York, but most of these were either afraid, or did not 
care to show any kindness or attention to parties who were 
under the ban of a suspicious and tyrannical Government. 
Some few people in that city, had the courage and inclina- 
tion to render us any service in their power, and prominent 
among these was Mr. Cranston, of the New York Hotel ; 
but the number of those who thus acted was singularly 
small. 

I cannot take leave of this portion of my narrative without 
recording the obligations under which the prisoners in Fort 
La Fayette must ever remain, to Mrs. Geo. S. Gelston and 
Mr. Francis Hopkins, who lived on Long Island just oppo- 



46 

site the Fort. They were unwearied in their efforts to alle- 
viate our situation. Day after day, for weeks and months 
together, they manifested their good will in the most gener- 
ous and substantial way. Food for those who were too poor to 
buy a decent meal, delicacies of all kinds for the sick, luxuries 
for others — all these were supplied by Mrs. Gelston, with a 
bountiful and untiring hand. To her tender sympathy and 
generosity, very many of the prisoners were indebted for 
comforts which were absolutely necessary to enable them to 
endure the privations to which they were exposed, and I 
know I but inadequately fulfil the wishes of every one of 
the former inmates of Fort La Fayette, in thus giving public 
expression to thanks which they had no opportunity to 
return to their good friends in person. 

It is scarcely necessary to say, that our opinions as to the 
sort of resistance we should offer to our oppressors, under- 
went no change in consequence of our cruel imprisonment 
in Fort La Fayette. I found on reaching there, that my 
father and most of his companions had taken the same view 
of their duty under the circumstances, as we had done ; and 
with every day's prolongation of our sufferings, we were 
the more and more convinced, that with a despotism so 
atrocious, we ought to make no compromise. 



47 



On the afternoon of the 28th of October, we were 
notified to prepare to leave Fort La Fayette on the 
following morning. We were then locked up in the various 
casemates and batteries for the rest of that day. The 
next morning our baggage was sent out to the wharf, 
we being still kept in close confinement, and a little 
after mid-day our baggage was brought back, and we 
were informed that the boat would not be ready that 
day. We were kept under lock and key all that day, 
and only permitted to go out to dinner. There was no 
conceivable reason for this last act of insolent harshness. 
On the morning of the 30th, we left the Fort on a 
small steamer, with a file of soldiers, and were carried 
up to Fort Columbus, on Governor's Island, and alongside 
of the steamer "State of Maine," which was lying at 
the wharf. She was a very ordinary looking river steamer, 
very low in the water, and very dirty. Her upper 
forward deck was covered with soldiers. She had been 
engaged in transporting soldiers and horses, and an ex- 
perienced sea captain of our party, who managed to evade 
the sentinels and go over the vessel, informed me that 
between decks forward of the shaft, she was perfectly 
filthy. There were about one hundred and ten of us, 
and we were sent on board of the "State of Maine," 
and directed to pass into the upper after cabin. This 
cabin was long and dark, and in it there were about 
twenty-two or three small state rooms, each containing 
two berths. It opened, aft, upon a covered deck, which 
1 



48 

was so small that, when our party collected there, it 
was considerably over-crowded. Just beneath the deck 
on which we were was the dining saloon, along the sides 
of which ran a double tier of berths. There may have 
been about twenty or twenty-five of these altogether. 
The whole after part of the vessel could not decently 
accommodate the one hundred and ten prisoners then on 
board. To our astonishment we learned that not only were 
we to take on board some seventeen "political prisoners" 
from Fort Columbus, but that the officers and soldiers 
who had been taken prisoners at Fort Hatter as were to 
join us also. These numbered six hundred and forty-five. 
Remonstrance or complaint was useless. These additional 
prisoners were marched on board, the officers and "po- 
litical prisoners" being sent to the after part of the boat 
with us, and the privates being packed in forward of the 
cabin, wherever it was possible for them to find standing 
room. 

We did not get away from Fort Columbus until about 
4£, P.M. While we were still lying at the wharf, it 
seems to have occurred to some of those in charge of us, 
that it was part of their duty to offer us something to 
eat. A large wicker basket, lined with tin, was then 
brought up full of water. It had been made to hold dirty 
plates and dishes, and had been used for that purpose, 
apparently, time out of mind, on the steamer. A soldier 
then brought up a box of crackers, and another appeared 
with a tin plate, which was several times replenished, 
containing large square pieces of boiled pork. Nine out 
of ten of these pieces were solid lumps of pure fat. A 
couple of old dirty-looking horse buckets of coffee were 
also provided. Such was the dinner furnished us. After 
this I saw no more of the pork, nor do I think there was 
any more on board, at least for the prisoners. Hunger 
compelled some of the prisoners to try and swallow the 
masses of blubber which were offered them, but many 
were unequal to the effort. A large proportion of the party 
dined, therefore, on crackers and water. When we started 
we had on board one hundred and twenty-seven "political 



49 

prisoners," six hundred and forty-five prisoners of war, 
and one hundred Federal soldiers, besides the officers and 
crew of the steamer. I subsequently learned that the 
only stores put on board for our subsistence consisted of 
one thousand and six pounds of hard bread, one -hundred 
and twenty-eight pounds of coffee, and two hundred and 
fifty-eight pounds of sugar. 

Thus loaded down almost to the water's edge, we headed 
for Long Island Sound. The discomfort of our situation 
cannot be described. Moreover, we all knew, for the naval 
officers among us had so said, and the officers of the boat 
admitted, that the vessel was, in her then condition, utterly 
unseaworthy, and that, if a moderate gale should catch 
us at sea, the chances were largely in favor of our going 
to the bottom. 

About dusk I heard that supper had been prepared in the 
dining saloon, for the officers who had us in charge, and 
that, as far as it would go, those of us who chose to pay 
for it, could partake of it. It was at the same time 
stated, that the officers of the boat had received no notice 
of the number of the prisoners she was to carry, and had 
not made the slightest provision for them. Under such 
circumstances, but very few of us could get a single meal in 
the dining saloon. By dint of great patience and perse- 
verance, I succeeded in getting some supper about nine 
o'clock at night. The next day, after many ineffectual 
efforts, I managed to get a very late breakfast, and that 
was the last meal I got from the officers of the boat or 
Government. I was far better off, however, than the mass 
of my companions ; for Mrs. G-elston again stood our 
friend. She had heard we were to leave Fort La Fayette, 
and had thoughtfully sent to those occupying the casemate 
in which I was, a huge basket of provisions for our jour- 
ney. It contained pheasants, chickens, tongues, pies and 
other delicacies, and one of my room-mates, Mr. Warfield, 
and myself, consented, or perhaps volunteered, to take it 
under our especial charge during the journey. On these 
stores, I and my former room-mates lived for the ensuing 
two days, sharing them, however, as far as we could, with, 



50 

other friends. But our supplies were wholly insufficient 
to meet any but the most limited demand, and we could 
extend our invitations to but few. Most of the prisoners 
had to put up with the hard bread and coffee, during 
the two days and nights we remained on board. 

Just before dark, the clerk of the boat came on the 
after-deck to distribute the keys of the few state-rooms 
assigned to us, which until then had been kept locked. 
The North Carolina officers had the berths in the dining 
saloon. There were, as already mentioned, about twenty- 
two state-rooms altogether, in the upper after cabin, and one 
or two of these were used for different purposes by the 
officers of the boat, and one or two others could accom- 
modate but one person each. It was obvious that not 
more than one-third of us would get any beds. Here 
again I was very fortunate, for I happened to be standing 
by Governor Morehead, to whom the clerk gave the first 
key, and I was able to secure one. Those who failed to 
obtain berths, either in the dining saloon or state-rooms, and 
they constituted a very large majority of the party, had 
no alternative, but to drop down wherever they could, 
and try to sleep. After those who had beds had retired, 
the cabin presented a scene that no man who was present 
will be likely to forget. It was densely packed with men, 
in every possible position. Upon each of the hard wooden 
settees two or three persons had contrived to stow them- 
selves in half recumbent positions, that were little likely to 
afford them the desired rest. Those who had chairs were 
sleeping on them, some sitting bolt upright, and some lean- 
ing back against the sides of the cabin. But many could 
get neither chairs nor places on the settees, and these were 
lying or sitting upon the floor. Over the latter had been 
strewn bread and pieces of fat pork, all of which being 
saturated with the expectorations of numberless tobacco 
chewers, had been trampled into a consistent mass of filth, 
by the feet of one hundred and fifty men. Some of the 
unfortunates, whom absolute weariness had compelled to lie 
down on the floor, were lucky enough, as they esteemed 
themselves, to obtain some newspapers, which they spread 



51 

between the dirt and their persons ; others had to take the 
floor as they found it, and the vacant spaces were so limited 
that many were not even allowed a choice of places. As 
for the prisoners of war, the privates, they seem to have 
slept, if they slept at all, wherever they could manage to 
stretch themselves. We were not suffered to go among 
them, but I could see from the door of the dining saloon, 
the morning after we started, that they were lying about 
between decks, on piles of coal, coils of rope, or the bare 
floor. 

We reached Fort Warren about dusk on the evening of 
the 31st, and Colonel Justin Dimick, who commanded the 
Post, came on board. He said that he had only expected 
one hundred and ten prisoners, that not the slightest notice 
of the coming of the prisoners of war, had been given, and 
that he was wholly unprepared to receive us. He, however, 
ordered some three hundred of the North Carolina soldiers 
ashore, and said the rest of us must remain that night on 
board. Thus we had another cheerless and wretched night 
to look forward to. It passed like the previous one, and we 
were only too glad when day dawned, well knowing that 
whatever might happen, our situation could not be made 
worse. 

That morning before we left the boat, I vainly endeavored 
to procure a glass of drinkable water. There was none 
to be had on board. The only supply of water left, was 
stale and foul and was used for washing, though not fit for 
that purpose. I was too thirsty to be particular, and 
having disguised the color and flavor of a glassful by 
pouring into it a teaspoonful of essence of ginger, I made 
shift to swallow it. I then breakfasted on the scraps which 
remained in our basket, and prepared to go ashore. 

This account of the privations to which we were subjected 
on that occasion, I have neither over-stated nor over-colored. 
On a convict ship our position could have been no worse, 
and even on such a vessel, more regard would be manifested 
for the safety of the prisoners than was shown for ours. 
And all this was endured by numbers of gentlemen who 
would be disparaged by being compared, in point of charac- 



52 

ter, intelligence and position, with Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Stan- 
ton, or Mr. Seward. It was an extremely fortunate thing, 
that the weather was fine, and the sea calm, after we passed 
out of the Sound. Wretched as our situation was, it would 
have heen aggravated ten-fold, had many of the prisoners 
suffered from sea sickness. We were, however, spared such 
addition to our troubles. I need not therefore surmise, 
how miserable in such a case, our lot would have been, nor 
what would have been the inevitable result of our being 
overtaken by such a gale as set in the very night after we 
reached Fort Warren. With a very little forethought and 
trouble, and a very slight expenditure of money on the part 
of the Government, or of those of its officers who were 
charged with our transportation to Fort Warren, our jour- 
ney might have been made in tolerable decency, if not com- 
fort. As it was, we were treated with as little consideration 
as cattle. The brutality that characterised the higher 
officers of the Government, seemed, as far as we could then 
judge, to be equally conspicuous in most of their subor- 
dinates. 



63 



When we readied Fort Warren, late in the afternoon 
of the 31st, Colonel Dimick came on board, as I have 
stated, and informed us that he had only expected about 
a hundred "political prisoners." He invited several gen- 
tlemen to go ashore and see the quarters he had set apart 
for us. Among these were Commodore Barron, Mayor 
Brown, and Messrs. Faulkner, Charles Howard and 
Kane. They hurriedly inspected the various rooms by 
candle-light, and after about an hour's absence they return- 
ed. That night they selected their quarters and their room- 
mates, as Colonel Dimick had requested them to do. 

About 10 o'clock the following morning we landed, and 
were marched into the Fort, where the roll was called, and 
we were shown to our respective quarters. The Fort is 
situated on an island containing forty-three acres, nearly 
the whole of which is covered by the fortifications. The 
interior work is built in the most substantial manner, of 
granite, and encloses a space of some five or six acres. It 
is an irregular structure, which it is impossible for me to 
describe accurately. The five principal sides are each 
about three hundred feet long. Two of these sides are 
divided into deep casemates, on a level with, and opening 
on the parade-ground. One other side contains rooms in- 
tended for officers' quarters. There were ten of these 
rooms on a level with, and looking out on the parade- 
ground, and immediately in the rear of these were ten 
more fronting on the space between the curtain and an 
exterior work. Beneath these twenty rooms, both in front 



54 

and rear, there were twenty more of the same size as 
those above, the inner or front ones being, of course, base- 
ment rooms, and opening upon an area about seven feet 
wide and ten or twelve deep, and those in the rear looking 
out on the space between the interior and exterior works 
above mentioned, which was below the level of the in- 
side enclosure. Between the front and rear rooms, above 
and below, there were also two very small dark rooms, 
intended, I presume, for store-rooms. All the interior or 
front rooms were lighted by large windows, and those in 
the rear by narrow loop holes, about six inches wide, at 
the outer edge, and four or five feet high. The upper 
rooms were all neatly finished, and those in front were 
very light and airy. The lower rooms had cement floors, 
and were much less desirable. Sixteen of the rooms I 
have attempted to describe, were assigned to the "political 
prisoners," and the officers who Avere prisoners of war, 
viz. : four front rooms opening on the parade-ground, 
and four immediately beneath them, and eight just in 
the rear of these, together with the smaller rooms or 
closets wdiich separated the front and rear rooms. One 
large, long casemate, in another side of the Fort, was 
devoted to the same purpose. Commodore Barron and 
several of the army officers with him, and Marshal Kane, 
selected one of the four upper front rooms ; the North 
Carolina officers of the highest rank another ; the Balti- 
more Police Commissioners another ; and the Mayor of 
Baltimore and Messrs. Morehead and Faulkner the fourth. 
These several parties having, in accordance with Colonel 
Dimick's request, made choice of their rooms, also selected 
as their companions, in their new quarters, those who had 
been their room-mates at Fort Columbus and Fort La 
Fayette. I thus found myself again among my old room- 
mates. The other prisoners, generally choosing their own 
room-mates, were quartered in the other rooms and in 
the casemate before mentioned. The crowded condition 
of the room I occupied will illustrate the situation of our 
fellow prisoners. This room was nineteen-and-a-half by 
fifteen feet, and one of the little closets of which we had the 



55 

use, was ten by ten-and-a-half feet. Into this room and 
closet, nine of us were crowded. So close together were 
our beds, that it would have been impossible to have put 
another one in the room without blocking up the doors. 
There was scarcely space enough for another, even in the 
middle of the floor. Those who got into the long casemate 
were far worse off than their other fellow prisoners. This 
casemate was, I should suppose, less than fifty feet long and 
less than twenty wide, and so crowded was it, that the 
inmates were compelled to sleep in bunks which were 
arranged one above the other, in three tiers. They had 
also to cook their meals in the same room. 

When we were installed in our quarters we began to 
look around to see what sort of provision had been made for 
us. As we had been told that at least a hundred of us 
had been expected, we naturally took it for granted that 
something had been done to make us tolerably comfort- 
able. Our former experience ought to have prevented 
us from entertaining any such hopes, but we were not 
long under any delusion. No preparation had apparently 
been made for one single prisoner, except that fires were 
kindled in the various rooms. Colonel Dimick, whose 
demeanor towards us was on all occasions that of a gentle- 
man, se'emed to be annoyed at the position in which he 
found himself. He informed us of his inability to provide 
for us decently, and expressed his regret at the fact. But 
his good feeling could not much alleviate our situation. 
Not a bedstead, bed, blanket or chair was then furnished 
any of us. Those of us who had carried on the bedding we 
had purchased at Fort La Fayette, were able to lend a few 
articles to our friends, but the great majority of the prison- 
ers were forced to sleep upon the floor, upon their great 
coats and the few cloaks and shawls they happened to 
have or could borrow. This state of things continued two 
or three weeks, at the end of which time, Colonel Dimick 
managed to have the furniture, which had been so tardily 
provided for us at Fort La Fayette, sent on to Fort Warren. 
In the mean time, many had, at their own expense, 
supplied themselves from Boston with necessary articles, 
8 



56 

but the others had to shift for themselves as they best could, 
until the arrival of the furniture from our former prison. 
The day we landed, the only dinner provided for us 
consisted of a barrel of crackers and a couple of raw hams, 
which were placed on the head of a flour barrel, in front 
of our quarters. We were informed that the Govern- 
ment would allow us the ordinary soldiers' rations, but that 
we would have to cook them ourselves, and a place would 
be given us for the purpose. Mr. Hall, the purveyor for 
the laborers and officers at the Post, agreed to furnish us 
that evening with supper. It consisted of cold, boiled salt 
beef, bread and bad coffee, which however, we were hungry 
enough to eat with considerable relish. This was the only 
meal we had that day, or until noon the day following. 
Not knowing exactly how we could manage our rations 
after they should be distributed to us, a number of us by 
Colonel Dimick's permission, requested Mr. Hall to fur- 
nish us two meals a day, at least until we could make some 
other arrangement. This he agreed to do at the rate of one 
dollar a day each, and a good business he must have made 
of it, for scantier and worse entertainment we had never 
seen provided at anything like half the price. We were 
forced, however, to continue this arrangement for a week, 
at the end of which time we took matters into our own .hands. 
We obtained the use of two casemates and cooking stoves, 
and established two clubs or messes, and engaged some 
of the North Carolina prisoners to cook and wait in the 
mess-room, and also to attend to our quarters. As there 
was a Government boat running regularly between the 
Fort and Boston, we ordered daily supplies of meats, 
milk, and vegetables, and with the addition of our rations, 
were enabled to live with reasonable comfort. After the 
North Carolina prisoners were exchanged, we from time 
to time, got servants from Boston, almost invariably 
foreigners, and continued, though at an increased expense, 
to live as we had previously done. 

In speaking of our treatment, I speak solely of the 
" political " or "State prisoners." As I know nothing 
of the way in which prisoners of war are entitled to be, 



57 

or usually are, dealt with, I have nothing to say upon 
that point. I will merely state, that the North Carolina 
prisoners, numbering about six hundred, exclusive of their 
commissioned officers, were confined in eight casemates. 
They were thus terribly crowded. During the first two or 
three days they had scarcely anything to eat. I do not 
know the cause of this, but the fact is, that they ab- 
solutely suffered from hunger. Afterwards they received 
their rations regularly, and large boilers were placed in 
front of their quarters for them to cook in. These were 
in the open air, and not in any way sheltered, and the 
men had to cook there in all kinds of weather, during 
the time they remained, which was until they were 
exchanged in February, 1862. 

In front of the range of rooms occupied by the ""politi- 
cal prisoners," and about ten yards off, sentinels were 
placed, and beyond them we were not allowed to go. The 
officers who were prisoners of war, were permitted to walk 
about the whole island, both within and without the Fort, 
on their parole; but we were confined to the space some 
hundred yards long, by ten wide, between our quarters and 
the line of sentinels just mentioned. This regulation was en- 
forced for nearly six months, and as we understood at the 
time, was specifically directed by the Government. During 
that time, we were kept strictly within those narrow bounds. 
Why men who were taken with arms in their hands were less 
rigorously treated than we, was obvious. The Confederate 
Government could exact certain rights for them, but there 
was no power or law in this part of the country, to protect 
us. The day after our arrival, I wrote to my wife this hur- 
ried account of our journey from Fort La Fayette. 

" Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Saturday, Nov. 2d. 

" We have arrived here safely, and a more uncomfortable set of 
human beings have never, I trust, been collected before in these 
quarters. We left Fort La Fayette on Wednesday morning, and 
together with the prisoners from Fort Columbus, came here on one of 
the Sound steamers. There were about four times as many on board 
as the vessel could accommodate, and the only food which the Gov- 



58 

eminent provided was bread and fat pork and a liquid called coffee. — 
I saw the most prominent gentlemen of Maryland, Kentucky and 
Virginia drinking what purported to be coffee, out of a dirty horse- 
bucket, while water was served out to them from a large tin, such as 
is used to hold the greasy plates after dinner. Pieces of fat about 
two inches square, were handed round to those who could swallow 
them, a ud a man's fingers constituted the table furniture. A number 
of elderly gentlemen could not at night find a place to sit; and scores 
of my friends slept for two nights upon the floors, which were the 
filthiest that you are ever likely to see. At this place no provision 
whatever had been made for us. Many of the rooms are not fit for 
the accommodation of human beings in the winter months in this 
climate. No beds have been furnished, and none are to be — a sack 
of straw being the only thing which the Government will supply. 
Even such bedding as this has not arrived. We have been here 
twenty-four hours, and most of the party have lived on a little raw 
ham and bread, and have slept on the floor. Not even a blanket has 
been given us. I have managed to get along better than most of my 
fellow prisoners, for I brought my mattress and a basket of provisions. 
I also was lucky enough to secure a state room. The privations I 
have suffered, serious as they were, have been light compared to those 
which numbers of my companions have endured. It is now 10 
o'clock, and we are as yet vainly trying to get some breakfast, which 
a caterer from Boston has agreed to furnish. I thus give you the 
brief outlines of this phase of our story. It is not necessary 
that I should supply the comments. I will write again when I 
have had a little time to look about me. The officers, as far as I can 
judge, are polite and kind, which in my late experiences is a novelty. 
It has been our misfortune to meet but few, if any, gentlemen, thus 
far, and a change in that particular will be grateful." 

I give this letter at length, because it was returned to 
nie by order of Colonel Dimick, who sent me word that 
his instructions prohibited the transmission of any such 
intelligence as I had attempted to send my family. It 
is evident from the suppression of so simple a statement of 
facts, that the Government had determined to resort to 
all the means in its power, to prevent the victims of its 
tyranny from making their situation known to the public. 
We were specifically ordered not to discuss public affairs 
in our letters. It is needless to recapitulate all the ad- 
monitions we received upon this point. The following 



59 

examples will suffice. On the 8th of April, 1862, a letter 
was returned to a "political prisoner" with this note, in 
Colonel Dimick's handwriting : 

" The Government require the gentlemen at Fort Warren to avoid, 
in their correspondence, discussing the differences between the North 
and South, or giving any account of the battles between the contend- 
ing forces. This letter is, therefore, respectfully returned." 

An order relating to the letters of prisoners was posted 
in our quarters, on the 10th of April, which concluded 
thus : 

" Military and political subjects must be avoided in all correspon- 
dence. 

" Lieut. JAMES S. CASEY, U. S. A. 

" Officer in Charge.'' 

Notwithstanding these regulations, we continued to dis- 
cuss, from time to time, the forbidden subjects, and, as a large 
number of letters were to be inspected every day, many, 
which were in violation of the above orders, found their 
way to our friends. But this happened, I suppose, because 
the examining officer had not time to read the letters very 
carefully, for the rules were never directly relaxed or 
modified. 

After we had been a few weeks in Fort Warren, an 
order touching the employment Of counsel by prisoners, 
and signed by Mr. William H. Seward, the Secretary of 
State, was read to us by the United States Marshal for the 
District. We were unable to procure an exact copy of 
that order, but we afterwards obtained a copy of a similar 
one which was read, somewhere about the same time, 
to the prisoners then in Fort La Fayette. This latter 
order was signed by a Mr. Seth C. Hawley, chief clerk 
of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners of New York, 
who subsequently visited us also. He was acting, as he 
stated, under Mr. Seward's directions. The order ran as 
follows, and was read at Fort La Fayette on 3d Dec, 1861 : 



60 

" I am instructed by the Secretary of State to inform you that the 
Department of State of the United States will not recognize any one 
as an attorney for political prisoners, and will look with distrust upon 
all applications for release through such channels ; and that such ap- 
plications will be regarded as additional reasons for declining to release 
the prisoners. 

"And further, that if such prisoners wish to make any communi- 
cation to the Government, they are at liberty, and are requested to 
make it directly to the State Department. 

"SETH C. HAWLEY." 



The purport and phraseology of the order read to us 
in Fort Warren on the 2Sth of November, and of the 
above were identical, except that stronger language was 
used in the former. Instead of being told that the em- 
ployment of counsel on our behalf, would be regarded as an 
additional reason "for declining to release" us, we were 
distinctly notified that any attempt to communicate with 
the Government through such channels, would be considered 
a sufficient reason for prolonging our confinement. We 
were thus precluded from endeavoring to set our respective 
cases in their proper light before the State Department, 
even if we had desired, as some of the prisoners did, to 
pursue that course. We could look for no relief except 
such as should be voluntarily vouchsafed to us, by what our 
oppressors were wont to call " the freest and most beneficent 
government on earth." The privilege of sending our com- 
munications " directly to the State Department," was one 
to which our past experience forbade us to attach much 
importance. The fate of the communications we had al- 
ready addressed to the various Government officers, gave 
us little encouragement to seek redress in that way, and 
the sequel will show that our view of the matter was 
correct. The day after the foregoing order had been pro- 
mulgated, Colonel Dimick caused this further order to be 
read to us : 



61 



"Department of State, Washington, JSov. 27th, 1861. 

"Colonel: 

" The Secretary of State has been informed that Mr. Wm. H. 
Ludlow, has represented to some of the prisoners confined in Fort 
La Fayette, that he possesses or can use some influence in their 
behalf, and has made it a ground for obtaining from them money in 
hand, or engagements for money or other valuable consideration. 

Discountenancing and repudiating all such practices, the Secretary 
of State desires that all the State prisoners may understand, that 
they are expected to revoke all such engagements now existing, and 
avoid any hereafter, as they can only lend new complications and 
embarrassments to the cases of prisoners on whose behalf the Govern- 
ment might be disposed to act with liberality. All persons can 
communicate directly by letter with the Secretary of State through 
Colonel Dimick himself, or any unpaid and disinterested agent whom 
they may find for that purpose. 

[Signed] "WM. H. SEWARD." 

What the cause or precise object of this order was, it 
was difficult to comprehend. Mr. Ludlow had had the 
freest access to the prisoners in Fort La Fayette, and 
he could only have obtained that privilege from Mr. 
Seward himself, whose Department then had us in charge. 
Why, then, was he so suddenly and publicly denounced? 
This question we could not and did not much care to solve ; 
but a fact that transpired immediately afterwards, satisfied 
us that the apparent quarrel between the two was not 
irreconcileable. At all events, Mr. Seward's hostility did 
not much damage Mr. Ludlow, for but a week or two had 
passed, when it was announced that the latter gentleman, 
whose proceedings had been "discountenanced and repu- 
diated," had received a commission in the Army. He 
was made a Major, and appointed a member of General 
Dix's staff, at Baltimore, where he remained until General 
Dix was assigned another Post. That Mr. Seward was 
animated by a desire to protect us against imposition, 
or by any other creditable motive, none of us for an instant 
believed. But whatever may have been his object in ex- 
cluding Mr. Ludlow from what might have been supposed 



62 

to be a profitable field of professional labor, he certainly 
did not prevent other lawyers from acting on behalf of 
the prisoners. How many of these employed counsel, or 
declined to "revoke" pre-existing engagements, I cannot 
say. But, in two cases, at least, the paid counsel of "poli- 
tical prisoners" in Fort Warren, were in communication 
with Mr. Seward, about and subsequent to the date of 
these orders. Mr. Keverdy Johnson, was acting for, at 
least two gentlemen in Fort Warren, whose release he 
afterwards obtained ; and Mr. Evarts, of New York, 
was acting, and continued long after to act, as counsel 
for another, and was, as such, in communication with the 
Government. 

From time to time, offers were made to different prisoners 
to discharge them conditionally. Sometimes an oath of 
allegiance, which bound the party taking it to support 
the "United States Government," notwithstanding any 
action which his State might take, was proposed as the 
price of his release. This was almost uniformly declined. 
Then various forms of parole were proposed, which bound 
the respective parties either not to go into the Seceded 
States, or not to go into the Border States, or not to 
correspond with any one in any of those States, or not 
to take up arms against the Government. The simplest 
parole, in form, merely imposed an obligation not to give 
" aid and comfort to the enemies in hostility against the 
United States;" but, as any discussion of the corruption 
or imbecility of the Administration was regarded by it 
as treasonable, this form of parole was probably for its 
purposes, the most comprehensive. Many of the prisoners 
accepted some or other of the terms proposed, and were 
released ; others declined to make any concessions what- 
ever — insisting that, as they had been arbitrarily imprison- 
ed, they would not recognize the right, which Mr. Lincoln 
claimed, to impose upon them any conditions. It is to 
those who took and maintained this ground that the en- 
suing portion of this narrative mainly refers. 

One fact, however, concerning the negro servants of the 
prisoners of war, may be worthy of mention. There were 



63 

with the officers, who were taken at Fort Hatter as, three 
negroes, two of whom were slaves. At Fort Columbus 
the Government had offered them their discharge on taking 
the oath of allegiance, which they had declined. At Fort 
Warren the oath was again tendered to them, and again 
refused. Finally, they were offered their liberty on giving 
their simple parole not to do anything hostile to the 
Government. They inquired whether, if they went out 
on such conditions, they would be furnished with passes to 
go South. They were told these could not be granted, and 
they then refused to accept the terms offered them. They 
were bent on returning to their old homes in North Ca- 
rolina ; and one of them took very high ground in the 
matter, saying, in reply to an inquiry about his refusal 
to give his parole, that he "wanted to go out honorable." 
They subsequently went back to North Carolina with the 
Fort Hatteras prisoners, when the latter were exchanged. 

On the 14th of November a notice was posted in the 
doorway of our quarters, signed by Mr. Setii C. IIawley, 
apprising us of his intention to visit Fort Warren for 
the purpose of inquiring what prisoners would take the 
oath, as a preliminary to the investigation of their several 
cases. On the following day Mr. Hawley appeared, and 
in pursuance of his purpose, called on the prisoners in 
their quarters. Almost every one rejected his proposition, 
many taking occasion to couple with their very unequivocal 
refusal, expressions of contempt for Mr. Hawley and those 
who sent him. 

Several of the Members of the Legislature desiring to 
put in writing the reasons for their refusal to submit to the 
conditions which Mr. Hawley came to propose, signed and 
handed to him a paper which Mr. S. T. Wallis had drawn 
up as his own answer to the inquiry : 



64 
"Fort Warren, November lbth, 1861. 
"Mr. SETII C. HAWLEY, 

"Sir: 

"A notice signed by you appeared this afternoon, upon the 
walls of the quarters in which we are confined. We quote it, in full, 
as follows, viz : 

' The undersigned appointed by the Secretary of State, U. S., 
to examine into the cases of the political prisoners at Fort Warren, 
desires those prisoners to be prepared, to-morrow, to answer the 
question whether they would severally be willing to take the oath of 
allegiance to the Constitution and Government of the United States, 
if they should be set at liberty. Further inquiry into each case to 
depend upon the auswer. To-morrow there will be an opportunity to 
answer the question. 

(Signed,) 'SETH C. HAWLEY. 

'Fort Warren, November 1M, 1861.' 

" We presume we are among those whom you designate as "political 
prisoners," and supposing that you may call upon us. to-morrow, to 
answer the inquiry which you have indicated, we desire to furnish 
our reply in our own language, in order that we may not be mis- 
understood or misrepresented. 

"As we understand your notice, 'further inquiry into each case,' 
is to depend upon the willingness of the individual to take the oath 
which you propose ; that is to say, that no man's case will be inquired 
into, unless he first signify his willingness to swear as required. We 
have now been in coufincmeut for more than two months. We were 
arrested, without process or form of law, upon the alleged authority 
of the Secretary of State of the United States, who clearly baa 
no lawful authority, whatever, in the premises. We have been 
dragged from one fortress of the Government to another, by military 
force, and have been dealt with in a manner which would have been 
indecent if we had been convicted felons, instead of free men, 
accused of no offence against the laws of our country. We have 
been separated from our homes and families, and exposed to constant 
suffering and privation, to the injury of health, the prejudice of our 
interests and good name, and in flagrant violation of every right 
which we have inherited as American citizens. More than this, as 
members of the Legislature of Maryland, we have been unlawfully 
withdrawn from the performance of our official duties, in derogation 



65 

of the constitutional rights of our State and her people. To tell us, 
after all this, that our ' case ' has not even been inquired into, thus 
far, aud that it will not even now be made the subject of inquiry, by 
the Government at whose hands we have suffered so much wrong, 
unless we will first submit to conditions as uri lawful and arbitrary as 
our arrest and imprisonment, is to offer to each of us an insult, which 
we should forfeit our self-respect if we did not repel. 

"If we are accused of having committed any offence known to the 
law, we are entitled to be lawfully and publicly charged therewith, 
and to be tried — not by you, nor by the Secretary of State — but by 
the constituted tribunals of the District, from which we have been 
violently and illegally removed. If we have been guilty of no crime 
against the law, we are entitled to be discharged, without any terms 
or conditions, and the Secretary of State — if you really represent him 
— is only visiting us with an additional outrage, by attempting to 
impose such upon us. 

" We are, your obedient servants, 

"E. G. Kixbourn, Wm. G. Harrison, 

S. Teackle Wallis, Henry M. Warfield, 

T. Parkin Scott, J. Hanson Tiiomas." 



The reasons which influenced the parties to the foregoing 
document were the same that operated upon all those 
who declined to make any compromise with the Admin- 
istration. We still felt, in addition to our own sense of 
personal wrong, that the cause of constitutional ^Liberty 
in our State was at stake, and that, as far as our efforts 
would avail, we were bound to defend it. A refusal to 
acquiesce in the proceedings by which the Government 
had outraged the people of Maryland, was the only mode 
of resisting arbitrary power that was left to us, and we 
had no hesitation in adhering to our course. But while 
we, in Fort Warren, were thus endeavoring to discharge 
what we felt to be our duty in such an exigency, we were 
hopefully looking to those who were differently situated to 
support us. Armed resistance on the part of the people 
of our State would, we well knew, have been utterly vain ; 
but we hoped there would, at leapt, be a continual and 
vigorous assertion of their rights from all whose position 



66 

gave them any influence, or any opportunity of making 
themselves heard. We thought it possible that when 
Congress met it might manifest a disposition to compel 
Mr. Lincoln to surrender the power he had usurped, and 
conform thenceforth to the plain dictates of the Constitution 
and the laws. In this we were disappointed. Some few 
braye and honest men manfully denounced the course of the 
Administration, but an overwhelming majority of both 
Houses, while uttering unmeaning platitudes about our 
"free Government," our "indestructible constitution," 
and our "inalienable rights," subserviently supported 
every despotic and infamous act of Mr. Lincoln and his 
advisers. Others held their peace. 

About this time, being struck by some paragraphs in a 
speech delivered, in the Senate, by Mr. Trumbull, of 
Illinois, early in December, 1861, I addressed him the 
subjoined note : 

"Fort Warren, December 8th, 1861. 

"Hon. LYMAN TRUMBULL, United States Senate, 

"Sir: 

"la the speech delivered by you in the Senate on the 5th 
inst., I find the following language: ' The power of Congress to pass 
a bill of this kind is, to my mind, unquestionable ; but I do not place 
it upon the same ground which has been advanced in some quarters, 
that in times of war or rebellion, the military is superior to the civil 
power; or that in such times , what persons may choose to call neces- 
sity, is higher than, and above the Constitution. Necessity is the plea 
of tyrants, and if our Constitution ceases to operate the moment a 
person charged ivith its observance thinks there is a necessity to violate 
it, it is of little value. ****** jls unpopular as the 
mo will may be for the moment among the thoughtless, I here declare 
thai lam for stqiprcssing this monstrous rebellion according to law, 
mid in no other xoay. * * * * ~\y e are fighting to maintain the 
Constitution, and it especially becomes us, in appealing to the people 
to come to its rescue, not to violate it ourselves. How are we better 
titan the rebels, if both alike set at nought the Constitution.'' I take 
leave to recommend these emphatic words to your re-perusal and 
re-consideration in connection with the following facts. I am a citizen 



67 

of the State of Maryland, and, of course of the United States. 
On the 12th of September last, I was carried from my house at 
midnight, by armed men, who professed to be acting under the orders 
of the Secretary of State, but who refused to produce any warrant 
whatever in justification of their proceedings. I was carried to Fort 
McHenry and have been transferred successively to Fortress Monroe, 
Fort La Fayette, and Fort Warren, and am now confined in the 
latter. Nearly three months have elapsed since I have been im- 
prisoned, and no charge has been or can be preferred against me, for 
I have violated no law, State or Federal. My offence is that I have 
denied the justice and policy of the present war, and that I have 
insisted on the right of Maryland to ally herself with either section in 
the event of the dissolution of the Union — the final destruction of the 
political system which she aided to establish. I have expressed 
political opinions in opposition to those entertained at Washington, 
and for this I am now in prison. Now I presume that you have some 
regard for the rights of each and every one of your fellow citizens, 
and for your own reputation likewise, and that after the language I 
have quoted, and the facts I have referred to, you cannot refuse to 
call public attention to my case, and to denounce, from your place in 
the Senate, the wrongs that have been done me and scores of my 
fellow prisoners. If you expect a future generation to vindicate your 
reputation for integrity, it is absolutely necessary that you should 
intervene publicly in behalf of men who have been made the victims 
of just such arbitrary and unconstitutional measures as you have pro- 
tested against. I trust it is not too much for me to anticipate that 
your action in this matter will be such as your avowed opinions have 
led me to look for. 

"I am, very respectfully, 

"F. K. HOWAED." 

Mr. Trumbull did not "call public attention to my case ;" 
but a few days afterwards he did introduce in the Senate 
a resolution calling on the Secretary of State for informa- 
tion as to whether he had caused the arrest of any indi- 
viduals in the various States, and if so, for what cause. 
This resolution was advocated, by Mr. Trumbull and one 
or two others, with vigor and ability, but was referred to 
one of the Standing Committees, and never heard of more. 
Mr. Trumbull, apparently, soon ceased to trouble himself 
about the matter. 



68 

To the course of our own Representatives in Congress 
we looked Avith great anxiety. I must frankly say, that 
we did expect them to take ground publicly against the 
usurpations of the President. We cared less, far less, 
about any private effort on their part to extricate us from 
the situation in which we were placed, than we did for 
some outspoken vindication of the rights of the State of 
Maryland — some open denunciation of the wrongs which 
had been done her people. Under the influence of these 
feelings, I wrote to two of the Representatives of our State, 
Mr. May, of the House, and Mr. Pearce, of the Senate. 
I had heard that Mr. May desired to comment, in his place, 
upon the course of the Government, but was restrained by 
the conviction that our chances of release would be thereby 
damaged. I accordingly wrote to him : 

" Fort Warren, January 11th, 1862. 

"Dear Sir: — ■ 

" It has been reported here that you have hitherto refrained 
from expressing, in Congress, your views upon the situation of Mary- 
land, lest any public effort to aid or vindicate us should result to our 
disadvantage. As I am one of the parties interested, permit me to 
assure you that I desire no such consideration for me to influence any 
man's course. On the contrary, I conceive it to be the duty of each 
and every citizen of Maryland, at all times and in all places, to lift 
up his voice against the arbitrary proceedings of the Administration, 
and to denounce the wrongs done us, be the consequences what they 
may. At all events, allow me to say, that I shall never be the one 
to complain of such a course on your part, however severely it may 
be visited on me by those in power. I write this because, having 
heard the rumor in question, I desire to make my own position per- 
fectly clear. Respectfully, yours, 

"F. K. HOWAKD. 
"Hon. Henry May, Washington, D. C." 



To this letter I received no reply, but Mr. May referred 
to it in a letter to Colonel Kane, which he requested him 
to inform me of, and said : 



69 

" I am solely governed by public considerations, as I ought to be, 
and of such a nature that, being founded on my own sense of duty, 

Howard can neither release me from them, nor can wish 

me to yield them up for any consideration personal to him or myself." 

I immediately wrote again to Mr. May : 

" Fort Warren, February 2th, 1862. 
"My Dear Sir:— 

" Colonel Kane has just shown me a letter, in which, refer- 
ring to the note I addressed you some time since, you say that you 
are actuated by ' public considerations,' founded on your own sense of 
duty, from which I cannot release you. I am somewhat surprised 
that you should have so far misapprehended the tenor of my note. 
You will recollect that I simply expressed the wish that, in discharg- 
ing what I conceived to be your duty, you should not be influenced 
by the fear that the consequences of your action might be visited on 
us. So far from assuming to release you from any obligations your 
sense of duty imposed on you, I merely desired to free you from those 
personal considerations which I heard had, up to that time, prevented 
you from discharging a public duty most thoroughly. We did differ 
perhaps about the nature of the public duty which, in this crisis, has 
devolved upon you, and the manner in which it should be met. 
If I had thought we could have so differed, I would probably have 
refrained from referring to the subject. But I did suppose, consider- 
ing your own late experiences and our position, and the relations 
existing between you and us, that but one path was open to you. I 
did imagine that we would agree upon the proposition that it became 
Marylauders to resist and denounce the despotism established among 
us, rather than wait until the evil might correct itself, or be over- 
thrown by others. I am. therefore, for the first time, apprised of my 
error and thus hasten to explain it. Permit me also to say that as I 
did not expect any immediate personal advantage to accrue to me 
from the course I hoped our representatives would pursue in Congress, 
I was animated by no such considerations when I wrote to you. On 
the coutrary, I thought it possible that such efforts to vindicate our 
rights might redound to our disadvantage, but I preferred to see the 
liberties and honor of my State boldly vindicated, even if I paid the 
penalty. These are still my views, and time will, I am confident, 
confirm their propriety and justice. 

*' I remain, very respectfully yours, 

" F. K. HOWAED. 
" Hon. Henry May, Washington, D. C" 



70 

Between the dates of the foregoing letters, I wrote also to 
Senator Pearce, of Maryland. 

"Fort Warren, January 24, 1862. 

"Dear Sir: — 

"As one of the Representatives of Maryland in the United 
States Senate, I take the liberty of calling your attention to the fact 
that I, with other of my fellow-citizens, am still a prisoner in Fort 
Warren, Boston Harbor. You are probably familiar, as is the whole 
civilized world, with the circumstances under which so many gentle- 
men of our State have been dragged from their homes and imprisoued 
by order of the general Government. It may not be amiss, however, 
to refer to the manner and causes of my arrest and detention. A 
little after midnight on the 12th of September last, I was seized in my 
own house by a band of armed men, who professed to be acting under 
the oi'ders of Mr. Wm. H. Seward, but who showed no warrant 
whatever for their proceedings. The indignities to which I was sub- 
jected, and the painful scenes consequent upon that outrage, I need 
not detail to you. Suffice it to say, that my house was searched from 
garret to cellar, my private papers were examined and carried off, and 
I was sent to Fort McHenry. From that place I was transferred 
successively to Fortress Monroe, Fort Lafayette, and Fore Warren, 
and at each of these Posts I have been kept a close prisoner, and 
have received the treatment of a common prisoner of war. It is 
proper that I should say to you that I have not in any way whatever, 
violated any law, State or Federal. I was one of the editors of the 
Daily Exchange, and expressed through the columns of that journal, 
opinions at variance with those entertained by the Administration. I 
opposed the war upon the South, and this I had an indisputable right 
to do. I argued that it would only render the separation of the two 
sections more certain, that it would leave us burthened with a fearful 
debt, and that it would demoralize both Government and people, and 
lead us insensibly towards a despotism or anarchy. These views also 
I had the right to entertain and utter. Such is the sum total of my 
offences ; and for such cause have I been held a close prisoner for more 
than four months under an arbitrary order of a member of the Cabinet. 
My business is in all probability ruined, and I leave you to conjecture 
what distress my family has suffered. In this matter my rights and 
the liberties of my native State have been alike contemptuously 
violated. Now, it seems to me, sir, that a Representative of Mary- 
land has but one clear line of duty to pursue, and that is, to denounce 



Tl 

persistently and boldly the usurpations of the Executive. I am aware 
of the fact that you have more than once expressed your views upon 
this subject, on the floor of the Senate, but it has been when the topic 
was started by other Senators. Our Representatives have only 
played subordinate parts, in debates which others initiated and chiefly 
sustained. I am not aware that you or your colleagues have chal- 
lenged the attention of the country to the wrongs done us, or have 
made any public or detailed statement in regard to individual cases 
here, of which there are many well calculated to arrest the attention 
and awaken the indignation of the people. Such a course might not, 
it is true, be productive of practical results to us, but it is, if you will 
permit me to say so, the path which I think it becomes those public 
men to follow who have been educated as, and are worthy of the name 
of American freemen. 

Whatever might happen to individuals, the principles which under- 
lie our Government, would thus be vindicated, and they can be 
manfully vindicated, at present, in no other way. 

' ' I have written to you more plainly than you may perhaps think 
warrantable. But I feel that I need offer no apology for so doing. — 
I have been subjected to personal outrage and political degradation. 
You are a representative of Maryland and have a high, and it may be 
a dangerous duty to discharge ; for as a citizen of that State, I have 
a right to ask that you should even jeopard your liberty in defence of 
mine, and that you should uphold, even though it be in an unavailing 
struggle, the honor of our State. This I do, and I trust that in deal- 
ing thus frankly with this question, I have not uttered anything that 
is otherwise than personally respectful to you. If so, I have done 
violence to my own feelings and intentions, but I have too much at 
stake to hesitate to speak with perfect candor. 

"I remain, very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 

"F. K. HOWAED. 

"Hon. James A. Pearce, U. S. Senate, Washington, D. C." 

Keceiving no answer, I again wrote to Mr. Pearce: 

" Fort Warren, February 27th, 1862. 
"Dear Sir: — 

" On the 24th ult. I addressed you a letter from this place, 
but, as the regulations of the post-office are somewhat stringent in 



72 

these days, I am in doubt as to whether my letter ever reached you. 
Will you be good enough to let me know whether you received it ? 
I do not write to solicit a reply to its contents, but only to get the 
information I have herein requested. 

!t Respectfully, yours, 

"F. K. HOWARD. 

" Hon. James A. Pearce, Washington, D. C." 

About a week afterwards I received this answer from Mr. 
Pearce : 

"Senate, 5th March, 1862. 

• ' Dear Sir : — 

' ' I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th Febru- 
ary, and of the former one to which you allude. That letter I did not 
answer for more reasons than one. An indisposition from which I 
have long suffered, makes writing difficult and painful to me, and, as 
I was engaged in earnest efforts to procure the release of yourself and 
other gentlemen illegally and unjustly detained, as I think, I thought 
it best not to write till I could communicate fully. There was 
another reason. You seemed to think that, though I had on several 
occasions expressed my opinions freely as to these arrests, and had 
strongly condemned them, there was something else that I ought to 
have done, but had omitted to do. What this was you did not say, 
but you intimated that it was a high and might be a dangerous duty. 
What that duty was I could only infer from your remark, that what I 
had said in this Senate was but incidental only. Any direct proposi- 
tion submitted by me would not, I think, be dangerous to me. And 
were it so, I trust I should not be deterred from the discharge of a 
duty by fear of consequences to myself. 

' ' But I am satisfied that no benefit to you, and to gentlemen alike 
unjustly confined, as I think, can be secured by any movement made 
by me in the Senate. 

' ' There is a disposition on the part of the Administration to relax 
these rigors towards all so situated. 

" But, at this time, I feel that I can neither benefit those I wish to 
serve, or promote sound doctrine on this subject, by any proceedings 
of mine. Mr. Trumbull's resolution was sent to the committee on 
the judiciary to be there entombed, and I doubt whether any resolu- 
tion by me would be allowed to be discussed. But I shall watch for 



73 

any opportunity of changed feelings or altered circumstances, which 
will afford the least promise of doing anything useful in this respect. 
Mr. Brown has been kept in confinement, I am sure, for fear that his 
release would complicate the police question in Baltimore. Most of 
the gentlemen with you, I know and esteem highly. They have my 
warmest sympathies, nor would I hesitate to pursue any practicable 
plan which promised to secure their release. 

' ' Very respectfully and truly yours,. 

"J. A. PEAEOE. 

"F. K. Howard, Esq." 

I have reproduced these letters simply to illustrate fully 
our views. They will show how anxious we were that the 
great principles which we were endeavoring to uphold, at 
such a cost to us, should he vindicated by those whose 
position enabled them to command, at least for a moment, 
the attention of the country. The gentlemen whom I had 
thus addressed thought a different course best and wisest ; 
but, however that may be, their decision was certainly deep- 
ly regretted by all the " political prisoners " from Maryland 
in Fort Warren. 

In the early part of February we learned through the 
newspapers that we had been transferred from the custody 
of the State Department to that of the War Department. 
Very soon afterwards a lengthy Proclamation signed by Mr. 
Stanton appeared in the newspapers. It was dated Febru- 
ary 14th, 1862, and was entitled " Executive Order in 
Relation to State Prisoners, No. 1." This Order contained 
a summary of Mr. Stanton's views and opinions upon the 
revolution in the Southern States, its course and probable 
results, and upon the action of the Federal Government, 
and concluded thus : 

' ' The insurrection is believed to have culminated and to be 
declining. The President in view of these facts, and anxious to 
favor a return to the normal course of the administration, as far as a 
regard for the public welfare will allow, directs that all political 
prisoners or State prisoners now held in military custody be released 
on their subscribing a parole engaging them to render no aid or com- 



74 

fort to enemies in hostility to the United States. The Secretary of 
War will, however, in his discretion, except from the effects of this 
order, any persons detained as spies in the service of the insurgents, 
or others whose release at the present moment may be deemed incom- 
patible with the public safety. 

To all persons who shall be so released, and shall keep their parole, 
the President grants an amnesty for any past offences of treason or 
disloyalty which they may have committed. Extraordinary arrests 
will hereafter be made under the direction of the military authorities 
alone. 

' ' By order of the President. 

" EDWIN M. STANTON, 

" Secretary of War." 

Shortly afterwards the following Order was also promul- 
gated by the Secretary of War : 

" OFFICIAL. 
" Executive Order, No. 2, in Relation to the State Prisoners. 

"■ War Department, Washington City, Feb. 27th, 1862. 

" It is ordered: — 

' f First — That a special commission of two persons, — one of mili- 
tary rank and the other in civil life, — be appointed to examine the 
cases of the State prisoners remaining in the military custody of the 
United States, and to determine whether, in view of the public safety 
and the existing rebellion, they should be discharged, or remain in 
military custody, or be remitted to the civil tribunals for trial. 

" Second — That Major General John A. Dix, commanding in 
Baltimore, and the Hon. Edwards Pierrpont, of New York, be and 
they are hereby appointed commissioners for the purposes above men- 
tioned, and they are authorized to examine, hear and determine the 
cases aforesaid, ex parte, and in a summary manner, at such times 
and places as in their discretion they may appoint, and make full re- 
port to the War Department. 

" By order of the President. 

"EDWIN M. STANTON, 

' ' Secretary of War. 



75 

After the Proclamation of February 14th, was issued, Col- 
onel Dimick was authorized to release a number of persons 
upon their signing a parole not to give ' c aid or comfort to the 
enemies in hostility to the United States ; ' ' and some weeks 
after the appointment of Mr. Stanton's commission, orders 
were received for the release of other parties upon the same 
conditions. A number still refused to accept the proffered 
terms. Two of them, Messrs. Wm. H. G-atchell and Wm. 
G-. Harrison, gave their reasons for so refusing, in the 
following letters to Mr. Stanton : 

"Fort Warren, February 22d, 1862. 
"Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, 

"Sir: 

" I have been arrested and imprisoned for nearly eight months, 
in violation of the Constitution and Laws of the United States, having 
never committed any offence against either. 

"I am not, in any legitimate sense, the subject of an amnesty. 
That, as I have always understood, is an offer of pardon by the offended 
to the offending party. The proclamation and the parole are to be 
taken together, and they reverse the order of things. 

"I cannot consent to any terms, which even seem to justify the 
action of the Government towards me, or will place me in any differ- 
ent condition from all other free citizens. 

" Your obedient servant, 

"WM. H. GATCHELL." 



"Fort Warren, February 22, 1862. 

"Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 

"Sir:— 

" As a member of the Legislature of Maryland, I was taken 
from my dwelling house, at midnight of the 12th of September last, 
by the military police of the city of Baltimore, and have since been 
incarcerated in several prisons, and now nearly four months in this 
one, Fort Warren. I was told my arrest was by orders from Wash- 
ington. I refuse any release, except an unconditional one, because I 



76 

will not seem even to acquiesce in an act, which has violated one of 
the most sacred bonds of our Government, (vide Article 4th, Amend- 
ments to the Constitution.) I have been arrested in defiance of law, 
punished without charge of crime, or trial, and judgment of my 
peers, and I will not sanction the insinuation which a parole affords, 
that any charge has been made or proved, warranting what has been 
done. 

" Respectfully, 

" W. G. HARRISON." 

As I saw, from the Proclamation and Order of the new 
Secretary of War, that he intended to deal with us arbi- 
trarily, instead of justly, I did not think it necessary to 
await propositions which. I could not accept, and which 
might not even he offered to me. I had never made any 
statement of my wrongs, nor had I individually forwarded 
any remonstrance against my arrest to the Government, and 
I therefore took that occasion to put my case upon the records 
of the Department, and sent this letter to Mr. Stanton : 

" Fort Warren, Mass., March 3d, 1862. 
" Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Sec'?/ of War, 

" Sir : 

" For six months past I have been detained in close custody in 
one or other of the Forts of the United States. I am, I believe, 
termed, in the novel language of the day, a " political prisoner," or 
"prisoner of State." Until recently I have been held subject to the 
order of the Secretary of State, but I now understand that I am spe- 
cially in charge of the War Department. You, therefore, are re- 
sponsible for my further detention. Under these circumstances it is 
proper that I should place upon record, in your office, a statement of 
the wrongs done me, and a demand for an instant and unconditional 
release. 

" On the night of the 12th of September, 1861, between 12 and 1 
o'clock, I was made prisoner in my own house, in Baltimore, by a band 
of armed men, who, although they showed no warrant or authority for 
their proceedings, professed, and I have no doubt truly, to be acting 
under the orders of Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State. My house 
was searched from garret to cellar — my private papers ransacked, and 



77 

most of them, as far as I can learn, were carried off. I was kept for 
an hour or more a prisoner in my own parlor — armed men being sta- 
tioned throughout my house, and even at the door of my children's 
chamber while this search was proceeding. I will not comment fur- 
ther upon the indignities then put upon me. I was finally carried off 
to Fort McHenry, leaving my house in possession of the myrmidons 
who had invaded it, and who refused to allow me to send for my wife's 
father or brother, who were in the immediate neighborhood, and to 
whom alone my family, at such a moment, could look for protection. 
I was detained at Fort McHenry during the following day, and then 
transferred to Fortress Monroe. At this latter post I was confined a 
close prisoner, with fourteen other gentlemen, for ten days, none of us 
having been suffered to leave for an instant the two casemates which 
were there assigned to us. So rigid was our imprisonment, that the 
very windows and doors, through which we could look out on the pa- 
rade ground, were closed and padlocked. I was then carried, with my 
companions, to Fort La Fayette. At this latter Post no provision what- 
ever had been made for our reception, and no decent accommodations 
were at any time provided. I slept in the dark, cold gun-battery, in 
which I was quartered, upon a bag of straw until I procured bedding 
from New York ; and during my whole stay I was compelled to pay 
for my meals, as I could not have eaten the wretched rations offered 
me by the commanding officer. On the 1st of November last I was 
brought to this place on an over-crowded and filthy steamer, which 
was insufficiently supplied even with the miserable pork and bread pro- 
vided for our subsistence. But for the fact that I had brought my bed- 
ding with me, I should have been forced, like many of my companions, 
to sleep for two weeks after my arrival here upon the bare floor, and 
without a single blanket to cover me. Such is a brief statement of 
the treatment to which I have been subjected. 

" From the moment of my arrest down to this hour no charge of 
any sort has been preferred against me, and none can be alleged or 
established, for I have not violated any law whatever, State or Federal. 
I was, as you may perhaps be aware, one of the Editors of the Daily 
Exchange, a morning journal published in Baltimore. In that paper 
I had expressed my political opinions without reserve. I had, a year 
ago, advocated the adoption of some compromise by Congress which 
should stay the then threatened rupture between the North and South. 
I had subsequently deprecated any attempt to coerce the South, on the 
ground that it would only render the separation of the two sections inev- 
itable and final. I asserted that war would leave the country in a worse 
condition than it found it ; and, as it would entail upon us an enor- 



78 

mous debt, I felt it to be my duty to resist, and I did resist its initia- 
tion. I was unable to see how the Union could be preserved if a large 
majority of the Southern people were bent upon a separation, and I 
said so. I was unable to comprehend how the President could, from 
the injunction which commanded him to see that the laws were faith- 
fully executed, derive authority to supersede and violate the fundamen- 
tal laws of the land, and I said so. I was equally unable to see how, 
upon the theory of upholding the Constitution, I was under an obliga- 
tion to support those who were daily manifesting their contempt for all 
its provisions — nor could I conceive how this Government had any ex- 
istence whatever outside of the charter which established it. All 
these political opinions I had the absolute right to entertain and pro- 
mulgate. I choose to refer to them here, because they constitute the 
offences for which I am undergoing punishment. Notwithstanding the 
fact that many thousands of persons in the Northern States had enter- 
tained and expressed these views within a twelve-month, the Adminis- 
tration determined that it was criminal in me to continue to hold and 
utter them, and has, therefore, arbitrarily inflicted upon me the indig- 
nities and wrongs which I have mentioned. 

"Although no direct offer has been made to me to release me upon 
any terms whatsoever, I, nevertheless, presume that mine was one of 
the cases which, either your Proclamation of February 14th, or your 
Order of February 27th, was intended to cover. Now, as I cannot 
accept a conditional discharge, coupled with a gracious amnesty for 
offences which it is assumed I have committed, and as I must equally 
refuse to appear at the bar of an irresponsible tribunal to justify my 
right to the ordinary privileges of a citizen of Maryland, it is due to 
myself, at least, that I should state the reasons which impel me to the 
course I shall pursue. To the principles which govern my action now 
I shall appeal, when in the future I seek redress and enter upon my 
own vindication. It must be obvious to you, Sir, that I cannot, con- 
sistently with my own self-respect, accept any such conditional release as 
is referred to in your Proclamation, or avail myself of such amnesty. 
As I was despotically deprived of my freedom, I can make no compro- 
mise to regain it. As I am punished merely for venturing to dissent 
from the theories and policy of the Administration, I need and will ask 
no pardon. Nor, even if I should accept the terms mentioned, would I 
have any security that I would not, immediately after my release, be 
again subjected to precisely similar outrages to those which have 
already been inflicted upon me. As the Administration has once de- 
termined that I, by expressing my political sentiments, was giving ' aid 
and comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States/ I could 



79 

only escape a re-arrest by consenting to forego or conceal my opinions. 
This I will never, for one instant, do. I deem it to be my bounden 
duty to defend, to the last, every privilege and right to which, as an 
American citizen, I was born ; and I shall do so until I am deprived 
of these by some known and fair process of law. 

"Nor can you fail readily to comprehend why I decline to submit 
myself to the jurisdiction of the strange tribunal which is organized 
under your order of February 27th. I recognize no such judges of 
my guilt or innocence, of my loyalty or disloyalty, under the Constitu- 
tion or laws of this land. The courts, both State and Federal, are in 
the unobstructed exercise of their several functions in Maryland ; and 
they could long since have examined and disposed of any charge which 
might have been preferred against me. In them, and in them only, 
will I meet any accusation ; and, while they are closed to my demand 
for justice, I shall decline to defend myself before any Star-Chamber 
commissioners whomsoever. 

" Such, Sir, are the motives of my present action ; and as the rights 
which I seek to uphold are not dependent upon the alleged necessities 
of the Administration, or upon the fate of battles, my convictions can 
not be affected by the supposed exigencies of the one, or the results 
of the other. I shall continue, then, to vindicate them, as I best may, 
with the consciousness that, after the delusions, the falsehoods, and 
the passions of the hour shall have passed away, my course will be 
approved by every honest man who has been educated in the know- 
ledge of the privileges and duties of an American freeman. I have 
only now to demand, at your hands, a prompt release from the impris- 
onment to which I am so unjustly and arbitrarily subjected. 

"I remain 

"Your obedient servant, 

"F. K. HOWARD." 



The only notice taken of this communication was the 
following note from the Adjutant-General : 



11 



80 



"War Department, 
"Washington City, D. C., March 10th, 1862. 

" To Colonel JUSTIN DIMICK, Fort Warren, 

" Boston, Massachusetts. 

"Colonel: 

" I will thank you to inform Mr. Frank Key Howard, that 
his letter of the 3d instant has heen duly received, and that his case 
has been referred to the Commissioners named in the within order. 
" By order of the Secretary of War. 

"L. THOMAS, 

"Adjutant General." 

With this letter was forwarded a printed copy of 
Mr. Stanton's order of February 27th. The views of all 
those who had refused to accept any conditional discharge 
were, in the main, those set forth in the above letter to 
Mr. Stanton. 

Our time at Fort Warren, as at our previous places of 
imprisonment, passed as may be supposed, monotonously 
enough. Living as we did in overcrowded apartments, it 
was impossible to read or write with any satisfaction. 
Restricted as we were for many months to our quarters or 
to a narrow strip of ground in front of them, we could derive 
little pleasure from exercising in the open air. To pace 
up and down within these contracted limits, where nothing 
was to be seen but the dull, gray walls of our prison was 
not a cheerful or invigorating mode of exercise. As month 
after month dragged wearily on, our hopes of release grew 
fainter and fainter, and though we seldom permitted 
ourselves to talk despondingly to each other, we did not 
tli ink the less bitterly about the homes we had left and the 
indignities we had endured. 

At Fort Warren the soldiers of the garrison differed, 
we were glad to find, from their comrades at Fort La 
Fayette. While the latter were incapable of delivering a 
message or of giving the simplest order, save in a manner 
at once insolent and brutal, the former were uniformly 



81 

good-natured and civil. Col. Dimick, the Commandant 
of the Post discharged his disagreeable office in a way to 
which we could take no exception, and none of us in any 
interview with him ever found him otherwise than courte- 
ous and kind. As far as lay in his power he left nothing 
undone to promote our comfort. 

On the 19th of April an order was issued giving us per- 
mission to walk, between 1 o'clock, P. M., and sunset, 
upon that portion of the ramparts immediately over our 
quarters. The space thus assigned us was just the length 
of that to which we had been limited upon the parade 
ground, that is, about three hundred feet. This extension 
of our bounds was an infinite relief to us, as from the 
ramparts we had a view of the bay and the surrounding 
shores. 

The unwillingness of the War and State Departments 
to grant passes to persons desirous of visiting any prisoner, 
may be judged from the following note from Mr. Seward 
to Kev. Mr. Hitselberger, a Catholic priest residing in 
Boston. He had applied, at the request of Mr. T. Parkin 
Scott, for a permit to enable him, as a priest, to visit the 
latter, and received this reply : 

"Department of State, 

" Washington, Nov. 20th, 1861. 
" To the Rev. A. L. Hitselberger, 

" Boston College, Harrison Avenue, Boston. 
"Sir: 

"I have to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th 
instant, with a copy of that which you addressed to Col. Dimick, 
on the 15th of November. This Department having adopted a rule 
which precludes all visits to political prisoners, even from Ministers 
of the Gospel — of any denomination — has hitherto strictly observed it. 
If, however, the persons themselves shall in the event of sickness, 
or any other reasonable cause, require the services of their spiritual 
advisers, the rule would be relaxed in favor of any one of undoubted 
loyalty. " I am Sir, 

u Your obedient servant, 

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD." 



82 

It was not until April that Mr. Hitselberger succeeded 
in obtaining a pass to visit Fort Warren. 

Genl. Dix and Judge Pierrepont, who had been appointed 
Commissioners to examine the cases of "State Prisoners" by 
Mr. Stanton's order of February 27th, arrived at Fort 
Warren, May 7th, 1862. They were engaged about five 
hours in disposing of these "cases." Their "examina- 
tion" consisted in asking one or two simple questions no 
way touching any crime or offence known to the laws, and 
in offering to release, on parole, most of the parties called 
before them. Several persons were released on some special 
grounds which distinguished their "cases" from those of 
the strictly "political prisoners," who unanimously reject- 
ed the proposals of the Commissioners. The latter did not 
attempt to say that the Government had any specific charges 
to prefer against those on whom it wished to impose con- 
ditions. That these prisoners had been confined simply 
because their opinions were in opposition to those of the 
members and partisans of the Administration, was tacitly 
conceded by the Commissioners in their so-called examina- 
tion. 

The following is a memorandum of the interview between 
Mr. Wm. H. Gatchell and Mr. Stanton's Commissioners. 
It was drawn up by Mr. Gatchell a few hours after his 
" examination." 



" As I entered the room in which the Commissioners held their 
meeting, Genl. Dix advanced with his hand extended, saying, 'good 
morning, Mr. Gatchell.' I declined the proffered hand, remarking, 
'excuse mc, Sir, if you please.' In a very short time, Judge Pierre- 
pont observed, ' I really forget, Mr. Gatchell, whether you have been 
offered the parole or not, heretofore.' I replied, that '1 had been and 
that I had declined it, for the reasons stated in my answer to the Sec- 
retary of War, which I supposed he had seen.' He said he ' had not 
seen that answer.' I told him that 'I would furnish the Commission- 
ers with a copy, that they might understand the grounds on which I 
placed my refusal to accept it.' I was then asked, ' whether I con- 
tinued of the same mind?' I answered, 'certainly.' Then, said he, 
' for the present, we have nothing more to do with your case.' 



83 

" I then turned to General Dix and said: ' At the time we left Fort 
McHenry for Fort La Fayette, you, Sir, assured our families and 
ourselves that our treatment there should be as comfortable, if not 
more so, than at Fort McHenry ; instead of which, for the first thirty 
days we were there, we were treated like brutes — that, but for the fact 
of our having taken our bedding with us, we should have been obliged 
to sleep upon the bare floor, and for fifteen days we had not a chair to 
sit upon.' He said, ' I could not know what the condition of things 
was at La Fayette.' I replied, ' You ought to have known before 
you made the promise, particularly as we were sent there by your 
orders.' He then said, ' Mr. Gatchell, nobody knows better than 
you that what I did was by orders from my Government. ' Yes/ I 
replied, ' but, as Commander of a Military Department, those orders 
must have been suggested by you, or adopted with your advice and 
consent.' " 

The reasons why the gentlemen then in Fort Warren 
refused to give the required parole, have already been ad- 
verted to. Four of us : Messrs. Scott, Wallis, my father 
and myself, whom the Government had not, openly — or 
secretly, so far as we knew — charged with any illegal act, 
were not summoned before the Commissioners. Our "cases" 
were therefore not "examined," nor were we offered our 
liberty on any terms. Col. Kane, against whom the Gov- 
ernment had managed to procure an indictment for treason, 
and who had been carried out of the State immediately 
afterwards, remained unnoticed, also. He had been remov- 
ed hundreds of miles away from the place where it was al- 
leged he had committed a crime, and though for nine 
months the Government had failed to bring him to trial, 
the Commissioners suffered his case, also, to pass unexam- 
ined. To Mr. Brown, the Mayor of Baltimore, Gen. Dix 
said that all parties in Baltimore bore testimony to his 
personal integrity and that the Government recognized his 
fidelity in his intercourse with it, and he then offered to 
release him, provided he would resign his office. Mr. 
Brown replied that he was in the power of the Government 
and submitted only because he could not help himself, but 
he peremptorily refused Gen. Dix's proposition to resign 
his office, remarking that to do so would be to forfeit his 



84 

own self-respect. Comment on this infamous and insolent 
proposal is needless. 

An article which appeared in the Baltimore American on 
the 15th of May, furnished conclusive evidence of the spirit 
in which the Commissioners had acted. The principal ed- 
itor and proprietor of that journal was Mr. Charles C. Ful- 
ton, a man who had been for years the apologist of every 
species of fraud and violence which had been perpetrated 
to advance the ends and interests of his party or himself, 
and who was at that time the subservient dependant of 
Gen. Dix and Gen. Dix's master. As his account of the 
visit of the former to Fort Warren was mainly correct, so far 
as the facts therein stated were concerned, it may be fairly 
presumed that he received it from one of the Commissioners 
or their clerk. In that article it was said : 

u We understand that the prisoners not examined were Messrs. S. 
Teackle Wallis, T. Parkin Scott, Charles Howard, F. Key 
Howard, and George P. Kane, all of this city. The reason why 
no examination was made in these cases is understood to have been 
the conviction, on the part of the Commissioners, that they ought not 
to be permitted to return to Baltimore, on any condition, while the 
class of citizens here of which they are a type keep up an unrelenting 
hostility to the Government — provoking, most justly, a hostile feeling 
towards them on the part of the Union men of this city. * * * 
That the feeling of hostility to which we have alluded has been fos- 
tered and embittered by the vindictiveness of the Secession women of 
Baltimore there can be no doubt; and to them is due — in a great 
degree, at least — as prime movers of disloyalty, the continued impris- 
onment of their friends. 

It is manifest, from these extracts, that the "hostile 
feeling" of Mr. Lincoln's partisans towards us was one of 
the reasons why the outrage done us remained unredressed ; 
and a disposition to inflict vicarious punishment on the 
women of Baltimore was another of the manly and just 
motives operating upon General Dix. On May the 9th, 
Colonel Dimick enlarged our bounds. We had permission 
from that time to walk where we pleased, both inside and 



85 

outside of the fortress, on giving our parole not to attempt 
to pass beyond the line of sentinels who were stationed 
along the shore. Our parole also required us not to com- 
municate with the shore, or with any one who might land 
on the island, and not to talk to the soldiers of the garri- 
son, or to discuss political matters in their hearing. 

On Saturday, May 24th, Colonel Dimick notified us that 
the " political prisoners" were to he sent hack to Fort La 
Fayette. We regarded this as indicating a determination 
on the part of the Government to subject us to all such in- 
dignities or punishment as it was in its power to inflict. 
That the Government itself considered Fort La Fayette as 
peculiarly a place of punishment, was made evident by an 
order which was received at the same time for the transfer 
of certain other persons to the same Fortress. A number 
of prisoners of war, who had been taken in the battle below 
New Orleans, had reached Fort Warren but two days be- 
fore. Among them were six officers of the steam-battery 
Louisiana, which they had blown up rather than suffer it 
to fall into the hands of the Federal forces. For this rea- 
son the Government chose to regard them as meriting severe 
treatment. On their arrival, they, like all other Confede- 
rate officers, were allowed the liberty of the Island upon 
their parole. With the order for our transfer to Fort La 
Fayette came another directing that these officers should 
not be regarded as, nor receive the ordinary treatment of 
prisoners of war, and that they should be sent to Fort La 
Fayette with us. Their parole was instantly revoked and 
they were placed under all the restrictions to which we had 
so long been subjected. It was thus made manifest that 
the Government was fully aware of the specially painful 
character of the imprisonment which the unhappy captives 
in Fort La Fayette were compelled to endure. 

On Monday, the 26th, Colonel Dimick received a dis- 
patch informing him that Fort La Fayette was already full 
to repletion, and ordering him to retain us for the time at 
Fort Warren. That morning the public had been made 
aware of the fact that General Banks had been driven by 
General Jackson across the Potomac in great confusion. A 



86 

special dispatch had been received at Fort Warren to the 
same effect, during the previous night, and the garrison 
left that day in great haste for Washington. Probably the 
Government had, for some time, more important matters to 
think about than the punishment of " political prisoners," 
for we heard no more of any orders for our removal. On 
Thursday, July 31st, the prisoners of war then in Fort 
Warren, some two hundred in number, left on a steamer 
for James River, where they were to be exchanged. After 
their departure there were but fourteen " political prison- 
ers " left in Fort Warren. 

On the 25th of October, a petition for a writ of Habeas 
Corpus in behalf of Mr. Wm. H. Winder was filed in the 
United States Circuit Court in Boston. Judge Clifford, 
one of the Judges of the United States Supreme Court, or- 
dered the writ to be issued. The Marshal declined to serve 
it. It was then placed in the hands of one of the Sheriff's 
officers. The officer endeavored to reach the fort on the 
boat which was in the service of the Government, but was 
refused a passage, unless he could get an order from Colo- 
nel Dimick, or the War Department. He then hired a 
sail boat and attempted to communicate with the fort ; but 
a vigilant lookout was kept, and he was warned off' by the 
sentinels. He was utterly unable to serve it ; and thus 
ended this attempt to release a "political prisoner" from 
Fort Warren through process of law. 

On the afternoon of the 12th of November, my father 
received a telegraphic despatch, informing him of the "ex- 
treme illness" of my sister. At the same time, Colonel 
Dimick notified him that he was authorized to release 
him upon his parole to return to Fort Warren at the expi- 
ration of a limited period, and to commit no act of hostility 
in the meantime against the Government. This was one 
of those few cases in which we had all agreed that it would 
be our duty to accept a temporary release. Colonel Dimick 
desired to extend this parole to thirty days ; but my father 
stated his unwillingness to remain in Baltimore, under any 
conditions whatsoever, any longer than might be absolutely 
necessary, and gave a parole, therefore, to return to Fort 
Warren in twenty days. The friends who had procured 



87 

for him this temporary release had applied for one for me 
also, but of this application no notice was taken. Had I 
been then permitted, I should have thought it proper for 
me to go home. On the evening of the 14th I received a 
message from my father, dated in the morning, informing 
me that my sister's end was rapidly approaching. At the 
same time Col. Dimick told me he was authorized to re- 
lease me on parole. I subsequently learned that this order 
to him was the result of a renewed application on my 
behalf. But it came too late, and there were no longer 
any reasons moving me to take advantage of it, save such 
as were purely personal to myself. A few moments reflec- 
tion satisfied me that, under such circumstances, I ought 
not to deviate from my course. I therefore declined to 
accept the temporary and conditional release which Mr. 
Stanton had so tardily offered me. While my father was 
at home Col. Dimick proposed to extend the time of his 
stay indefinitely, and to receive his simple pledge to return 
to Fort Warren when so ordered, without exacting from 
him any other conditions whatsoever, thus leaving him, in 
all other respects, perfect freedom of action. My father 
declined, however, to take into consideration any further 
proposition looking to his discharge, temporarily or per- 
manently, upon any terms whatsoever, and notified Col. 
Dimick that he would be at Fort Warren on the 3d of 
December, the day when his parole would expire. 

On the 24th of November an order of the War Depart- 
ment, dated Ijov. 22d., relating to the discharge of prison- 
ers who had been arrested for interfering with the draft, 
&c, appeared in the Boston papers. Though the order 
did not refer directly to persons in our situation, still there 
was so much ambiguity in its language that it was not 
clear whether it might not be intended to include us. On 
the same afternoon, Col. Dimick received this dispatch : 

" Washington, Nov. 2ith, 11.50 A. M. 
" Commanding Officer, Fort Warren, Boston. 

" None of the prisoners confined at your Post will be released 
under order of the War Department of the 22d instant, without 

12 



special instructions from the Department. By order of the Secretary 
of War. 

"E. D. TOWNSEND. 

« A. A. G." 

I had not myself thought that the order of November 
22d would affect us, though some of my companions were 
of a different opinion. The above dispatch to Colonel Dim- 
ick effectually banished from the minds of most of them 
any doubts upon the point. 

Late in the afternoon of the 26th of November, 1862, 
Colonel Dimick entered our quarters and, with a manifes- 
tation of much pleasure and good feeling, announced to us 
that our captivity was ended. He had just received a tele- 
gram from Washington ordering our release and containing 
no suggestion about terms or conditions. He furnished us 
the next morning, at our request, with the following certi- 
ficate : 



" Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, 
" November 27th, 1862. 

" George P. Kane, 
" George Wm. Brown, 
" Charles Howard, 
"Frank K. Howard, 
" Henry M. Warfield, 
" William G. Harrison, 
" Robert Hull, 
" S. Teackle Wallis, 
1 ' Charles Macgill, 
" William Gatchell, 
" Thomas W. Hall, 
"T, Parkin Scott, 
" William II . Winder. 

" The above named prisoners are released agreeably to 
the following telegram. 

" J. Dimick, Col. 1st Art'y Com. Post. 



89 

' Washington, Nov. 26th, 1862. 
1 Col. J. Dimick, U. S. Army, Fort Warren, Boston: 

' The Secretary of War directs that you release all the Mary- 
land State prisoners, also any other prisoners that may be in your 
custody and report names to this office. 

'Signed, <E. D. TOWNSEND. 

A. A. General. 

" True copy. 

" Fort Warren, November 27th, 1862. 

"J. DIMICK, 

"Col. 1st Art'y, Com'g Post." 



We left our prison for our homes on the morning of the 
27th. 

There were, at the time of our release, no other prisoners 
in Fort Warren than those named, except one, who was a 
native of Massachusetts, and who had been arrested in that 
State, a few weeks previously. The gentlemen ahove named 
had, with a single exception, been my companions in Fort 
La Fayette, and of course in Fort Warren. All hut one 
had been imprisoned over a year, and Mr. G-atchell, Col. 
Kane and my father for nearly eighteen months. Each of 
them had determined at the outset to resist, to the utter- 
most, the dictatorship of Abraham Lincoln, and having clone 
so, each had the satisfaction of feeling, as he left Fort 
Warren, that he had faithfully, and not unsuccessfully, dis- 
charged a grave public duty. We came out of prison as we 
had gone in, holding in the same just scorn and detesta- 
tion the despotism under which the country was prostrate, 
and with a stronger resolution than ever to oppose it by 
every means to which, as American freemen, we had the 
right to resort. 



■<s 



W46 










v^V 0> \J # 3^V* \/^^V* v^ 











^ . o „ *K. .<y . v . _ <*. 







***** 








0* V *^T»\/V 






1 ,o*~. ••••*© 






c» * 




V ..*••« ^ .0* .•_»•• **b. 







;* ^o 



»°^ 















«<*v 



^s*' 

























V^ 1 




Bill 



HH 






wmm 



■HhI ; lift 

1—1 III n 

■ I j?te»«k wife H 



ill 



Hi 

I 

r 



KMtiii 



liiiiiiiiiii 



1 1 
I 



I 



^wl§# 



m 



:*> 



M& 



m 



H HillHiilli 

no $™ 



HKB8SH 






■I Hi 



B— I 



huh 

Mlillillll 



Rig 



itillllillmi H 



